Something To Cherish
by RandomConception
Summary: Gryffindor, Samantha is partnered with Slytherin, Severus and finds herself arguing with him nonstop. Severus is set on becoming a Death Eater but will Samantha try to stop him? Review required with every read...Please lol Really GREAT FIC!... Marauder Er
1. First day back at Hogwarts

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize. A major change I did make for the sake of my story was that both Bellatrix Black (at this time) and Rodolphus Lestrange were in the same year as Severus and the other Marauders. Also, that Narcissa is now Bellatrix's older sister. And I added my own characters._**

**_AN:- I feel really good about this one and hope you give it a chance and enjoy it. _**

_Chapter 1_

Samantha Cromwell ran along side the Hogwarts Express as it started to move along the tracks. She was going to miss it, she knew it. Never again was she letting her brother drop her to the train station in his beat up little 1960 Chevy. She reached out to grab for the railing and missed it by two inches. She could feel people watching her as she ran and knew that it was dangerous but she had to get on this train. Gathering her momentum she gave her run all she had and sprang forward one last time. Her hands touched the railing and she swung her legs onto the platform of the last compartment of the train.

Breathing heavily she turned to watch the train station grow smaller as the distance between her and it became greater. She sighed at her earlier thought. She wouldn't even need her brother to drop her off at the train station again since this was her last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was excited school was almost over but it will be a big change from school life to working life, she didn't even have an idea of what she wanted to become. A Professor? – but of what subject? She didn't have a favorite. An Auror? – Yeah, well she didn't fancy the idea of hunting down Death Eaters, especially from the horrible stories of them in the Daily Prophet. Another two Aurors were found murdered this summer. Didn't she see a Careers Counselor last year? How come no possible occupations came to mind for her?

Shifting her wand from sticking into her side to laying flat against her thigh she headed for the door which led into the hall of compartments. She headed for the front of the cart and opened the first compartment to find it full of Hufflepuff students.

After finding six more compartments full and one with two people she despised she found herself facing the last compartment at the very end of the cart. Why hadn't she started here in the first place she wondered?

She pulled open the sliding door to find one person sitting near the window. She could tell that it was a boy but his face was hidden behind a Potions textbook. She glanced at the uniform and realized that whoever it was was a Slytherin. _Great_, she thought. She had nothing against individuals, but Slytherins weren't the friendliest of people. However, being a Gryffindor she was definitely capable of holding her own against a Slytherin.

She cleared her throat but the guy remained the same. _Snotty, _she thought. Shrugging she walked into the compartment and sat down in the seat opposite the boy, wanting to watch the scenery as they made their way towards Hogwarts. She gazed outside for a few minutes but her curiosity won and she looked at the book that was staring back at her. It was a potions book, however not one that was a part of the school's Potions list. _Weirdo_ – reading a book he hadn't even been required to read.

Tired of reading the title and Author's name over and over she looked at the pale hands holding the book. They were long and sort of thin – not creepy thin but thin, the nails where neatly short but could have been cleaned under a bit more. She noticed a multitude of scars on the back of the palm of the hands and over the pale knuckles, some were quite large. Then she glanced at the black hair that was visible over the top of the book. _Who was this? And why did this book seem to be so big all of a sudden?_ she wondered.

She was about to say something when the book lowered and a thin pale face with dark eyes, and a bored expression became visible. The boy's shoulder length black hair hid most of his face. _Severus Snape_. She should have guessed.

"Don't you know that it is rude to stare, Gryffindor?" He asked slowly in a calm tone.

She scoffed, "Rude? Coming from a Slytherin…that's ironic."

"Should I point out that this here was my compartment that you have invited yourself into?" he said bitterly with a hint of warning.

"Don't tell me your one of those Slytherins that thinks that they own everything since their 'Pureblood' family donated so much to the school?" she said with disgust.

Something crossed his face and it wasn't a pleasant thing to watch. It wasn't so much anger as something else – but she couldn't make it out since it was gone as quickly as it came.

He was quiet for a moment and Samantha tried not to blink as she stared into his black black eyes. Then she watched as his eyes narrowed and a superior expression took its rightful place on his true Slytherin's face.

"'That thinks that they'? Are we honestly in the same year group?" he said and raised his book again over his face.

Samantha stared at his book again. 'That thinks that they'? There was nothing wrong with that grammar…was there? '…one of those Slytherin's that thinks that they own everything…' There was absolutely nothing wrong with that statement! She sucked in a breath but then realized that too much time had passed to make a comeback – so she let it slide. He deliberately did that, to confuse her and use the opportunity that she used to mull over it to make her look like a fool. Point for Slytherin.

* * *

What seemed like hours later Samantha found herself slouched in her seat staring blindly out of the window at the green upon green upon blue outside. She had done nothing for the past…however long it had been. And he had done nothing but sit there and read, frequently flipping pages but that was all.

Sighing she sat up and pulled out her wand. She took a pouch out of her robe pocket, opened it and took out a small trunk and placed it on the floor. She waved her wand over it and wordlessly used a spell to enlarge it. Putting the pouch and wand back into her robe pocket she opened her trunk. She rummaged for a second then pulled out a book that had the cover of an Astronomy textbook but in truth was a muggle romance novel. Yes, she did have girlish tendencies. She sat back and started reading it.

Some time later she was bored with the book and threw it back into her trunk to look back at the boy sitting quietly in front of her. His undisturbed silence was slowly starting to irritate her.

"So, how was your summer?" she asked, giving in to her good natured side.

She didn't think he would answer her, and he didn't but he slammed his book onto his thighs and glared at her.

"Have you got absolutely nothing better to do then bother those around you? You haven't stopped fidgeting since you first sat down." He said in a snide yet calm tone.

"Oh, so you did notice. You're like a statue sitting there reading a book that isn't even on our Potions list." He turned his face to stare blankly outside. "So, how was your summer?" she tried again.

Of course he ignored her and after a few minutes he was hidden behind that book again. She smiled to herself and started humming.

So this was how Severus Snape really acted. Then what everyone said about him was really true. He was unpleasant, weird, rude and not likeable at all. She had heard much worse gossip about him but she couldn't tell if they were also correct from this short exchange. He did have a rather large nose, but not freakishly so that it made his face look weird, and his hair did look sort of greasy she guessed. She knew many people disliked him, for many other reasons besides being a Slytherin.

She had seen him around school and perhaps had a few classes with him over the years but she had never actually spoken to him. She had heard most of what she knew about him from hanging around with Lily Evans, Alexis Honey, Annabel Shrew and the Marauders, who were James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. She knew that the four boys bullied him frequently, and though she didn't approve of such childishness she had never really witnessed any of the incidences - just heard it from the boys. She knew that Lily Evans had grown up with him but they hadn't really talked much in school, or she had never seen it anyway. Then Lily had ended their awkward-already-perished friendship almost three years earlier after he had called her a Mudblood. Samantha remembered the day Lily came into the girls dormitory crying and told her, Alexis and Annabel what had happened. All she had tried to do was help him and he just slashed out at her.

_Dirty_. She looked at the boy across from her and agreed with most of the things she already knew about him. If he had called her such a thing, even if he had been her friend at some point, no one would have heard her cry about it because she wouldn't have wanted to be suspected in his untimely death. _Slytherins_. They needed to be knocked off of those high horses.

* * *

Snape was going to go insane. Either he was going to go insane or he was going to show his vast knowledge in the Dark Arts and use two of the Unforgivable Curses on this stupid naive Gryffindor. He took a quick glance outside the window to his right and from where they were it would be at least another hour to get to Hogwarts.

She had asked how his summer was, nosy, wanting to get information of which didn't concern her. It was no different form the other summers he had experienced, he thought bitterly. At Spinner's End he would want nothing but to be back in school, but then at school he would want nothing but to be anywhere else, except for Spinner's End. Thank heavens the final year has finally arrived. This will be the last year he would be tied down or ridiculed, as soon as it was done he would be free to do whatever he pleased and he could finally get away from everyone he hated so dearly.

He had originally planned to travel and gather more knowledge to decide which fields to go further into, whether it being Potions or Defense Against the Dark Arts. But from the looks of things he will have to excel in the Dark Arts. He smiled to himself. The war was still raging on; Lord Voldemort was gathering more and more followers and growing more powerful. Not coming from money and even if he had his parents would have never helped him out, he was going to leave Hogwarts broke, with no connections and nowhere to go. He knew quite a bit about the Dark Lord and the fools in the Ministry to know that the Ministry of Magic will fall under Lord Voldemort's fist.

He and most of his fellow Slytherins were all excited about leaving Hogwarts to join the Dark Lord in fixing the Wizardry world and gaining total domination. Power. That was something Severus Snape wanted. It was something he was never allowed to have and something he was restraining himself of obtaining until he graduated from Hogwarts.

He was jarred from his thoughts by a soft laugh from the Samantha Cromwell girl. Yes, he knew who she was, an arrogant blonde haired, blue eyed Prefect of Gryffindor – his enemy house. She was best friends with Lily and hang out with the Marauders. Gryffindor students are said to represented bravery and chivalry – more like retards and prats. They didn't care about school work as much as much as they cared about people acknowledging them.

* * *

The Great Hall was vibrant with so many students chatting about their summers, about expectations of the new school year and exciting upcoming events. They only students that weren't moving around or chatting were the First Years. Samantha walked through the rows of future Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws or Slytherins - making sure they stood in the right order in which the sorting hat will call them. Most of them looked nervous, some terrified and others just looked hungry.

Finished with helping Professor McGonagall, she headed into the Great Hall and walked towards the Gryffindor table. She headed straight for her two friends Annabel Shrew and Alexis Honey, who were waving her over enthusiastically. She sat between them and they both formed a hug around her.

Grinning they stated in unison, "Missed you on the train."

Annabel, whose short black hair framed her pixie face, pouted. She was short and petite. Alexis who was just a few inches taller then Annabel, slightly chubby, but still pretty and whose wild brown hair tangled over her shoulders, gave Samantha an accusatory stare.

Samantha frowned, "Toby."

"Say no more." Alexis said, raising her hands up in surrender.

"You think your parents would have learnt from the last time he had to take you to the Station." Annabel mused in her soft voice, shaking her head.

Samantha laughed, remembering the last time her brother had taken her to the train station. "That was three years ago, he had just gotten his license, perhaps they thought he had matured since then." She had missed the train completely due to his inability to avoid uncharted shortcuts and had to go back home where her father took her straight to school.

Alexis scoffed, "Toby? Right…Honestly, your parents must be wonderful people to think so highly of him."

"Well I did agree to go along with him." Samantha confessed. Changing the subject she grinned and asked, "How were your summers?"

Alexis went first, "Boring. Same as last summer, I was forced to head north to my mother's family in Scotland. They're all muggles you see, the type that would burn me at stake if they ever found out that I was a witch." She said casually.

Samantha smiled, "That sounds lovely, my dear lass. What no Scottish romance tales with an aggressive man in a kilt and two pitchers of beer in both hands?"

Alexis grimaced, "First of all they lived in the middle of nowhere. Four aunts, twelve female cousins and all the men worked on the farms all day, the only chance I had at romance would have been with a relative or a sheep."

Annabel laughed, "I love sheep, they're the cutest farm animal."

"What of your summer, Annabel?" Alexis asked in suspicion.

"Oh, well we didn't travel. My parents invited a family to come visit for the summer; I thought they were a friend of the family. They had a three year old daughter and an eighteen year old son -"

"Ah," Alexis dragged out, wiggling her eyebrows at Samantha.

"That's what I thought as well until my mother told me that we were cousins." Annabel's cheeks pinkened. "Thank heavens I didn't kiss him that time he tried to kiss me. Could you imagine?! A cousin! It seems our summers were not so different, Alexis." Then she turned to Samantha, "How was America, Sam?"

They both looked excited as if what she told them about her vacation would erase their bland summers. "Oh, well it was lovely. We divided the summer between New York and California."

"Wow, California." Annabel sighed, "You do seem to have a tan, doesn't she Alexis?"

"Yes, but how was New York?" Alexis pushed.

"It was great. There were so many people walking around! It was like being in London but then not really. We went to the theater, all the landmarks and they have the best pizza restaurants, they had lots of rude people though."

"What were the boys like in California?" Annabel almost squealed.

Samantha laughed, "Oh they were most quiet handsome, but extremely dull, sadly. And sorry, no romance stories for me either." She looked at the empty table in front of her, "Mum, made me go everywhere with Toby. All he did was drool over the girls in bikinis at the beach. He's extremely vulgar that one.

"Oh," Annabel sounded disappointed. Then her face lit up again and she opened her mouth to say something else but the Great Hall started to quiet down as Headmaster Dumbledore got to his feet and started the opening speech.

Samantha tried to concentrate on what was being said but couldn't as someone started to whisper in her ear.

"Hey, Sam, how was your summer?"

She turned to see Sirius Black sitting behind her. Annabel who had originally sat there was sending her an apologetic look from behind him. Samantha narrowed her eyes but turned her attention to the handsome boy, whose black haired head was to close to her and whose grey eyes were staring intently into her blue ones.

"Shh." She said and turned back to the front of the Great Hall.

"How was your summer?" he persisted.

Giving in she answered, "It was fine, Sirius."

There was an expectant pause then, "Mine was good to."

"That's great." She said and made it sound dismissive.

But either he didn't get it or he was just ignoring it, "Hey, Sam I was wondering -?"

"Sirius, can we talk later?" She cut in and blocked out his response as the Sorting Hat was brought out on a stool to sort the first years into their houses. This was her favorite part of the school year opening ceremony, since this was a great point in the future of each and every one of those students. Which ever house they were sorted into would define their lives for the next seven years and a bit of their destiny.

The first student made his way up the podium towards the hat and it was placed over his head. "Ravenclaw!" the hat yelled after two seconds.

A roar sounded from the Ravenclaw row of tables. It continued this way for all the students, some taking longer than others as the sorting hat read into their minds and came to a conclusion. The Sorting Hat would yell out a house name and the said house would burst out in glee to welcome their new comrades.

**_AN:- Hope you like the characters you've seen so far._**

**_If you liked the first chapter I hope that you will Review!...if you did not....thats to bad and guess what? - Review!_**


	2. Potions

_Chapter 2_

"Sirius wants you Sam." Alexis stated as they started to unpack and change into their pajamas and night gowns. The Gryffindor girl's dormitory hadn't changed since last term. The walls where stone the four-poster beds red and gold.

Samantha closed her eyes, "No, he doesn't."

"Actually, I think he does as well Sam. He's liked you since our Fourth Year." Annabel added.

"No, he doesn't. He asked me out in Fourth Year but I turned him down and since then he has been busy with about a hundred other girlfriends." Which was true, Sirius Black was one of the most sought after boys in the school, not even the Slytherin girls could deny the fact that he was gorgeous, though they all refer to him as a blood traitor because he was the only person from his pureblood family to be disgraced into Gryffindor and not Slytherin.

"But he obviously wants to go out with you now. Don't you want to give him a chance I mean he's the most sought after boy in the school, not even the Slytherin girls can deny the fact that he was gorgeous." Alexis wrung her hands in the air between them.

Samantha chuckled. "If you like him, then you go out with him."

Her face fell, "I would but he has never asked me out."

Samantha felt a bit guilty for saying it. "I'm sorry Alexis. I know you have liked him for quite a while. Among other reasons, I don't want to go out with him because that would be a horrible thing for me to do to you."

Alexis straightened and looked nonchalant, "That was a while ago, and I have gotten over it."

But this wasn't true, Samantha knew this and she and Annabel shared a hurt glace for their best friend.

Just then a group of Gryffindor girls came talking noisily into the dormitory. They all seemed to be huddled around someone and chattering all at once at her.

Parts of their conversation drifted over towards them.

"No." Some girls said in disbelief. "But last year…"

"Is it true Lily?"

"It's about time, Lily!"

"How long?"

"You're so lucky."

Alexis, Annabel and Samantha rolled their eyes and continued unpacking as the chattering continued and grew even more irritating as all the girls followed Lilly Evans to their side of the room since her four-poster bed was right next to theirs.

Lily finally spoke and everyone quieted, "Ladies please! It is none of your business what is happening between James and me. And no it is not at all true!"

The cloud of girls started to disperse after that – some looking sad, others disappointed and some looking smug and hopeful.

"Potter." Samantha stated as Lilly fell onto her own bed which was to the right of Sam's.

Lily's green eyes burned at her through her veil of red hair. "That imbecile!" She threw her wand onto her bedside table and it fell to the floor. "He showed up at my home for a day during summer. I couldn't have just turned him away – oh but I should have. He spent the first part of the journey to Hogwarts today telling people that we spent the entire summer together!"

Alexis laughed but stopped suddenly at the murderous look Lily gave her. Annabel cleared her throat, "What a stalker. How did he know where you live? Lily you didn't, you never told him where you lived did you?" A scary thought that.

Lily snorted, "No, I hadn't." she shook her head, "You would never…you would…he wrote to my mum. And she invited him over." She finally said, horrified.

Samantha smirked but said nothing.

Alexis said, "What an awful thing for her to do."

"I know, and she likes him! She said that he was a handsome, nice, mature wizard and would be happy for him to come back." She looked sick. "She is obviously blind, deaf and has poor judgment."

"Petunia must have had the time of her life saying awful things about you to him." Samantha added into the conversation.

A smug smile spread over Lily's face, "I had never thought that I would be grateful to her for anything. But that way she irritated him, I think I'll love her forever."

That was an even scarier thought. Lily's sister Petunia hated Lily and everything to do with the Wizardry world. Her family knew that it was because she was jealous that she hadn't gotten an offer from Hogwarts and she hated the way her muggle family gloated about having a witch in the family.

"Sam, I didn't see you on the train. Did Toby give you a ride again?" Lily finally smiled.

The girls giggled and Samantha rolled her eyes, "Yes, Lily. I had to run along side the train and jump onto it, you should have seen it, I am sure I made quite an impression on the people at the station."

"You didn't tell us that, Samantha." Annabel said in horror, "You could have fallen into the train tracks and been severely injured."

"Thanks, Annabel, perhaps severely injured by another train. I hadn't been thinking the same thoughts." She said sarcastically. "You will never guess with whom I had to share a compartment with." She said after a moment.

Lily and Alexis looked up at her and Annabel stroked her chin. "It wouldn't happen to be Sirius Black."

Alexis shook her head, "I think she would have sounded more distressed if it were he." She smiled.

Lily picked her wand off of the floor where it had fallen when she had thrown it at her bedside table and laid it by the lamp. "Besides he was in the compartment that James, Remus and Peter were in." She looked as though the idea irritated her, "James told me…" She grumbled, "When they cornered me and forced me to sit by them during the feast."

"They do help him to get you near him, don't they?" Sam said in pity and finally told them, "It was Severus Snape."

Alexis looked taken aback, "You were stuck in a compartment with _that boy_ for _that long_? How did you manage to not have died of boredom?"

While they all got into their beds Lily said quietly, "That's awful." And turned to face her desk.

"What did you talk about?" Annabel asked.

Alexis scoffed, "Can he even talk?"

Sam laughed, "Well, we argued." She made a show of scrunching up her face in confusion. "I don't know if that can be considered an actual conversation. He is quite rude." She told them.

"He's awfully strange that one." Annabel said through a yarn.

"Strange, more like unhinged." supplied Alexis.

Closing her eyes, Samantha whispered in agreement.

* * *

The next morning Severus sat in the back of the Potions classroom polishing his cauldron. It was the final year and last term students were allowed to narrow down their subjects to subjects that actually interested them and corresponded with their career interests. Potions was one his, best classes, he had always gotten the best marks a lot of which had to do with his pure talent _and_ reading books that weren't on the booklist.

Earlier that day he had been bitterly reminded by other Slytherins that in the seventh year all four houses were combined for classes – he hadn't remembered this. _What a pleasant surprise_, he scowled.

Of course he was the only student on time and ignored the rest as they came into the classroom filling it with noise and laughter.

* * *

Sam was going to be late to her first class. She halted in the doorway just in time not to be too late. Professor Slughorn was just about to close the door when she walked past him into the room. He greeted her with a reprimand and a smile and allowed her ahead of him. She looked around the room, spotted Annabel and Lily towards the front of the classroom but didn't see a vacant seat near them. The only vacant seat she found was at the far back of the room, right next to…_great_…Severus Snape…_of course_.

Sam dropped her bag at the foot of the table and slid into the chair next to Snape. He looked up from his textbook and his already bored face fell.

"You." he accused.

"Don't worry next class I promise to come early so that this never has to happen again." she said and pulled out her Potions textbook, parchment and quills. She heard him give a sniff and she started to glower.

Professor Slughorn cleared his throat and once the room was quiet said in a cheery voice. "I hope you are all sitting by someone that you can tolerate because the person next to you will be your partner for the duration of this year, when not preparing individual coursework of course."

Samantha's eyes widened and she heard Snape curse next to her.

Partners with Severus Snape? For an entire school year? Everyone else was paired with people in their own houses except for a few Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw duos, but she knew for a fact that they were friends.

Her hand shot into the air and it wasn't just Professor Slughorn's attention she got, the entire class was watching to see how a Gryffindor would get out of being partnered with a Slytherin. _Well not in a dignifying way_. She was prepared to grovel.

The Professor glanced her way, "Ah yes, what can I do for you Miss Cromwell?" When she didn't respond but waved for him to come over he gave a sigh and walked towards the unfit pair.

Once the Professor was next to her she cleared her throat and asked, "Sir is it really for the entire year? Is there no chance of switching partners at all?" She felt Snape inch away from her and she turned to see if he actually had the audacity to look embarrassed by the situation but he only looked as outraged as she felt.

"I could be partners with Sam." She heard Annabel from the front of class. _Had everyone heard her?_ Sam wondered.

Everyone turned to Annabel, including Lily who gave her a horrified look and Annabel's cheeks pinkened as she realized what that meant for Lily. She looked like she wanted to take it back but she was torn because both Sam and Lily were her good friends.

"Well if no one objects to the partner change then Miss Evans, gather your things and switch places with Miss Cromwell." Professor Slughorn said.

Samantha gathered all her Gryffindor courage and took in a breath – she wouldn't do that to Lily. "Actually, never mind." Students stared at her, the Professor raised a curious brow, Lily looked relieved and Annabel looked utterly out of her element. "Unless Snape still has a problem with this."

She felt rather than saw him straighten in his chair as he said, "I could complain about it, however why should I waste my time in doing so? I for one can excel in class no matter how lowly educated the person I have to work alongside."

Samantha's fingers formed a fist under the table but she ignored him as did Professor Slughorn who quickly said, "It's great to see our houses finally working together, Miss Cromwell." Students grimaced and a few laughed nervously as the Professor, Head of Slytherin called their attention again to talk about the different topics they would be learning over the next few months.

When everyone was facing the front of the class Samantha turned to Snape with fiery eyes, "_Lowly educated_? At least I have friends that tried to save me from being partnered with the likes of you for an entire year."

"Yes, and that seemed to have changed your position greatly." He retorted, giving her a smug look.

"I didn't want to expose Lily to your vile existence for more than she already has to face it, I wouldn't want to curse _anyone_ to such a feat."

She watched his eyes smoldered, and realized she had finally struck something deep. Point for Gryffindor. "How very noble of you, Cromwell. I have to say I am curious as to how someone with your past grades in Potions could be allowed to continue with this course into N.E.W.T. level. What was it you got last year again?" Point for Slytherin.

Samantha gets quite decent grades, however last year she didn't do very well in Potions at all. Leave it to her luck to be partnered with him in the one subject he could mock her about. She guessed that the only bright side to this situation was that her partner was the brightest Potions student. This didn't lighten her mood in the least.

* * *

Thank heavens that they were only taking notes for today's class. Snape couldn't imagine trying to prepare an actual potion with her, he could already imagine her doing something completely wrong and jeopardizing his prefect grades in the class. Later he was going to ask Professor Slughorn if her mistakes will affect him. He was probably going to end up doing all the work himself. She would love that – a Slytherin slaving at a Gryffindor's feet.

He looked over at her parchment; of course she had neat handwriting - because she had barely written anything. Gryffindors – all about the appearance not the brain. He looked at his own scruffy spidery handwriting. He already had almost a foot of parchment with notes and thoughts.

When he was finished and everyone else was still scribbling away he stared at nothing in particular, until his eyes shifted to the girl next to him. She had her head lain upon her folded arms and her parchment was left to dry to her right. Since he was also to her right he had full view of her work and he began to read over it.

No wonder she didn't perform well in this class. She didn't take adequate notes – they were vague and to the point. There was no detail or seen understanding. He frowned and began to reread his notes, expanding on some areas.

* * *

Samantha was glad when the class had finally ended. She had Care of Magical Creatures next out in the grounds. Everyone was already out of the classroom by the time she reached the door and she reached it at the same time Snape did. They bumped sides, stared at each other and pushed to go out first. Point for Gryffindor. She headed down the corridor and was met by and apologetic Annabel and a thankful Lily.

"Thank you." Lily said shyly with guilt all over her face.

"I should have never caused the situation." Annabel said quickly.

"It's okay, I would never do that to Lily, and no one else would have been willing to switch anyway so you proved your loyalty Annabel. I appreciate that." Samantha said as they started towards the stairs that led up to the first floor.

Lily sighed, "Although now I know that you're more loyal to Sam than you are to me."

"Oh no I -" Annabel sounded horrorstruck.

"I'm just joking Annabel." Lily added with a laugh and linked her arm in Annabel's, who looked grateful but still slightly unsure. "That list of potions we have to make looks completely complex this year."

They all agreed.

At the castles front doors students were hanging around busy chatting. They joined Alexis who had just arrived from Study of Ancient Runes.

"Was that class always so boring?" she asked as they headed out into the grounds towards the Gamekeepers hut. Hargid, the school's young half-Giant Groundskeeper was an assistant to Professor Fauna, their Care of Magical Creatures Professor because with his love of all beasts he had access and knowledge to all sorts of species.

Samantha laughed, "Yes it was."

"Why did I choose to continue it?" she grumbled.

Annabel filled her in of what transpired in Potions class as they drew nearer to the hut.

Alexis showed her empathy by saying, "Wow, bad luck is surly doing a number on you, Sam."

Samantha gave her a feigned smile.

"You think that he is somehow forcing these sick events to happen so that you spend time with him?" Alexis speculated. "He is also very adept at the Dark Arts, you know."

Samantha rolled her eyes and Alexis and Lily giggled.

Annabel frowned, "He's only adept at _Defense Against _the Dark Arts."

Alexis stared at Annabel, "You do know that I was only joking."

Annabel looked at her plate, "Of course I knew that." But Alexis wasn't so sure.

Lily cleared her throat, "Well he is also practically a Potions master. Sam you keep saying that there is no way you can ever pass that class with an exceptional grade, perhaps you can learn from him." Lily - always trying to see the best side of things.

"I did think about that as I tried not to stick my quill in his neck. But we would never be able to be civil enough to each other for me to actually learn something from him, that much is clear. He even had the gall to push my past marks into my face. Dirty little serpent."

"Samantha! I have never heard you say anything that negative about anyone." Annabel disapproved.

Samantha looked up at her friends, "Well now I have reason to." It was true she wasn't one to judge or be malicious but Severus Snape had her harsh aspects assured.

* * *

After lunch Samantha, Lily and Alexis walked together to Transfiguration which was on the second floor. On entering the class they saw only one other person. Severus Snape sat at the back of the class alone and busily bent over a book.

Samantha stiffened and her hand on Alexis' arm tightened a bit. "A second class we share, in one day? This is awful."

The trio sat at the front of class and chatted as more students filed into the room. Sirius Black, James Potter and Remus Lupin came in after a while and sat behind the girls.

Lily sniffed and Sirius laid a hand on Samantha's shoulder.

"Hey Sam, how was your summer, you never did answer me." he reminded her.

She sighed but turned to talk to him for a while. He did what he usually did, flashed his perfect handsome smile, told her about random amazing things he had done over summer and listened to everything she had to say.

Samantha turned around just in time to see Bellatrix Black walk into the room on the arm of Rodolphus Lestrange. Bellatrix Black was Sirius's cousin however she would never acknowledge him as such, as he would never acknowledge her as her a pleasant female. He didn't qualify to her superior idea of what a true pureblood would be and the fact that he was put into Gryffindor just added reason for her despising him.

Bellatrix could have been beautiful, and perhaps many people thought that she was. But she wore her hair wild and it made her look crazed. Also her attitude showed in her exterior, giving her harsh and unforgivingly mean expressions.

The chatter in the room died when Professor McGonagall swept into the room and gave out chapters to read in their newly subscribed textbooks.

_**AN:- So, that's the second chapter - what'd you think?**_


	3. A graceful peace offering

**_These chapters seem to be short but I'm sure they will get a little bit longer as the story goes on._**

**_But at least their short and sweet...Riiiigh????_**

_Chapter 3_

Severus sat at dinner that evening between Rodolphus and Mulciber. Rodolphus Lestrange was a malicious, pureblood boy, taller than Severus by a foot, his brown wavy hair a mess. Mulciber who's last name he kept forgetting was edgy and very muscular with short blond hair cut so close to his head that he looked bald. Mulciber was a buffoon but Rodolphus was someone to be reckoned with, no one wanted to be on his bad side.

The boys watched as Bellatrix Black cursed and pushed the two girls sitting opposite the three boys out of her way as she sat. They could see from her face that she wanted to eradicate something, or rather someone as she pushed back her wild midnight black hair out of her face.

"I hate all these pathetic worthless imbeciles in this school." She said as she grabbed the front of Rodolphus' shirt and tie and pulled him towards her. She crushed her lips to his and he kissed her ravenously. After a second, where Severus turned back to his food, she pushed him back into his own seat and he glowered at her with malevolent eyes. She smiled back then continued, "Especially those Gryffindor fools."

They didn't need her to specify as a group of four entered the hall laughing and arrogant. Mulciber actually growled. "Soon, my love, we will be free of this place and can join the Dark Lord. Then we can take our pleasure in getting rid of those who weren't meant to be born." Rodolphus cooed at her.

"Why must we wait?" Bellatrix demanded.

Rodolphus sighed, "Lucius and Narcissa have said that it isn't time yet. That the Dark Lord will call upon us when we are needed." Narcissa Malfoy, formerly Narcissa Black, was Bellatrix's older sister; she was married to Lucius Malfoy a well known Death Eater amongst other Death Eaters but everyone else was non-the-wiser.

Severus was enjoying the momentary quiet when Bellatrix spat at him, "Sev, is it true that you have to be partnered with a Gryffindor for the entire year in Potions?"

Severus wrinkled his nose as he responded. "Sadly, yes, it is – a rather stupid one at that when it comes to the class."

Bellatrix gave him a sympathetic look, "Who is it?" she asked as she glanced over at the Gryffindor table.

Rodolphus answered, "Cornwell."

Bellatrix turned back with a confused scowl, "Who?"

Severus answered, "Samantha Cornwell - the blonde occasionally with the Marauders and their first ladies." He sneered.

"Oh." Bellatrix turned back around, "The second prettiest of the Gryffindor girls, a half blood, losing by one polished nail to Lily Evans a muggle born." she said in a fake cheery voice. She spat on the floor, "Disgusting, they all flock around those idiotic lions, when everyone knows that the real men are found in the serpents of Slytherin." She said as she dragged her nails down Rodolphus' arm. "But this is acceptable since real women are pureblooded."

* * *

On Tuesday Samantha's schedule was rather light with just Transfiguration in the morning and then Care of Magical Creatures that afternoon.

On the Wednesday however, when she and her friends made their way to their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class she stopped in the door way. _Of course._

"I swear, if I have one more class with him I am going to break something." Samantha said as she grabbed onto Lily's arm as the four of them walked towards the stairs after class, "You are not leaving my side in that class, for the entire year." She informed them all.

From there the day didn't get any better.

After Defense Against the Dark Arts she had two hours of Potions to bear. Samantha cornered Snape at their desk. "What class do you have after lunch?" It was the only class she hadn't had yet all week and she needed to now if he was in it.

Snape gave her a cold look and bent back over his textbook.

"Hello? I asked you a question, Slytherin."

He looked up then, "Don't you dare demand anything from me ever again." he said and turned away again.

Professor Slughorn still had the class making notes on Potion matters and variables. Samantha watched as Snape continued to write on his parchment, in his crooked scribble which surprisingly looked sort of elegant. She frowned at the thought and noticed that he had a considerable amount more of parchment written then she had finished.

She sighed and thought of how horrible the next few months will be if they continued to act the way they did towards each other. Not trusting herself or him to act rationally outside of class or with words she pulled out a spear piece of parchment and as childish as it were wrote '**Can we start over?**'

She pushed the noted towards him. She watched as he paused to look at it for a moment, then he raised his wand and the parchment went up in flames.

Scowling but prepared to do whatever she could she pulled out another piece of parchment and silently hexed it to repel fire. She wrote '**Look, we have to work together for an entire year. It would be much easier if we pushed aside the obvious.**'

She pushed it over to his side of the table but he ignored it. She blew on it so that it drifted to cover his parchment and he paused in his writing. She smiled smugly as he started to write on it.

The parchment appeared in front of her. His scrawl, which looked a bit neater said, '**What should we obviously push aside?**'

Did he honestly want her to say it? She touched her tongue to her lip as she wrote – '**I won't lie to you - That you're an insufferable, dull, and rude sleazy Slytherin.**' She looked down at what she wrote. _This wasn't going to magically have him comply_, she thought so she added '**And I am an arrogant, self-righteous, hotheaded Gryffindor – we should push that aside and just try to work together so that we don't fail this class.**' Sighing inwardly, she pushed it over to him.

She watched as he read it and was surprised when he looked thoughtful instead of livid and began to write. A few moments later the parchment appeared back in front of her.

'**You forgot irritating, idiotic, oblivious and a poor excuse for a witch. I will however for the sake of my future act as civil towards you as a Slytherin can to a Gryffindor, if you will stay out of my way a take on your load of work... and I wouldn't have failed either way.**'

Samantha clenched her jaw as she reread what he wrote about her and tried not to combust in harmful hexes. Then the words vanished and written in his scrawl was '**Herbology.**' Then abruptly her fire repellant parchment burnt into ashes in her hand.

Three days in and finally a break through, and out of five classes she had four with him – _spectacular_.

* * *

They had no reason to talk to each other again for the week as they didn't sit near each other in any of the classes other than Potions where they were only reading and copying down information. On Thursday however, Professor Slughorn, informed them that they were starting on their first Potion on Monday of the next week.

Saturday came and Samantha, Lily, Alexis and Annabel were sitting under a tree in the grounds playing cards when the four Marauders came along. Lily groaned.

"Hey,Lily!" James yelled as they came up to them.

"Go away, Potter." She asked, though it sounded like a plea to Sam.

Sirius came up behind Sam and sat there breathing down her neck. She shifted and said, "Do you mind, Sirius?" Lupin sat on her other side while James sat close enough to Lily that their thighs touched and Pettigrew sat between Alexis and Annabel.

"What are you playing?" asked Lupin.

"Canasta." Replied Annabel as she wrinkled her nose and looked at her cards from a different angle to make sure none of the other girls could see them. "I'm awfully dreadful at this game."

"It's a muggle card game." Alexis said, watching Sirius.

"Can we play?" asked James.

Lily shook her head. "We are in the middle of a game right now, besides you don't even know how to play."

"Yes, I can." He insisted.

"No, Potter you can't."

"Well, alright no." he leaned closer into her, "You know me so well, darling."

Lily scowled.

Sirius leaned closer to Samantha and whispered, "Could you teach me how to play, Sam?"

She turned to look at his handsome face and couldn't deny the little pull it had on her. He was extremely good looking but she could never see herself going out with him. They didn't have much in common. She picked up the stack and said, "Perhaps, Lily can teach you when she shows James."

"You'd be waiting a long time." Lily stated and completed a canasta.

Lupin cleared his throat and confessed, "I know how to play." The two boys groaned. "If I taught them then we could all play."

The boys started talking amongst themselves as the girls continued their game. Occasionally one would hit the other or James would try to get Lily's attention or they would laugh at something Pettigrew had done. It was peaceful for a while until Potter and Sirius got worked up for some reason.

"Look at him, he comes out here by himself and sits alone. To do what? Read?" she heard James say.

"You know he thinks that he is friends with Bellatrix, Rodolphus and their pet ape." Sirius laughed, "I hate them as much as I despise him but honestly, who would be his friend? Even they aren't that desperate."

"We should go over there and mess with him, James." Peter squealed.

Samantha looked up as James called out, "Snivellus? Hey snivellus, whatchya reading?" he yelled over.

"Where to find a lowlife friend that is as greasy as you?" Sirius piped in.

Samantha looked in the direction the three Marauders where looking. Severus Snape sat alone under a great oak across the field to them; his black hair covered most of his face as he had his head angled over a book in his lap. He could have probably heard their advances but was obviously ignoring them.

"Werido. Can he even see through all that grease plastered to his head?" Sirius laughed and yelled over at the quiet boy, "Why aren't you answering? Got some of that grease from your hair in you ears?"

Samantha watched as Snape slightly clenched his jaw but continued to stare at the book in his lap. Besides the little action he didn't retort, he didn't budge and he just ignored them. She wouldn't have put up with it, but it wasn't her battle. She noticed that none of he other girls were even discerned and played as it was her turn to play.

"We heard that you are partnered with our Samantha Cromwell, Snivellus." Potter called out to Snape.

She looked up, outraged, what did they think they were doing?

"You better leave her alone, Slytherin. Did you think that you would just-"

"You say one more word and I will curse your ass, Sirius." Samantha yelled at him withdrawing her wand.

They all looked at her including Severus from across the field, however a second later he was looking back at his book.

Potter raised a brow, "But we always tease him, its tradition."

"Well, you better not dare to involve me in it." She said, furious that they were so idiotic. She and Snape were already at each others throats.

Sirius had remained silent and Potter looked as though he wanted to lash out. They moved next to Lupin and the day went on.

**_AN:- is humming to self..._**

**_I hope someone likes it enough to leave a review....that would be lovely...._**

**_Please? _**


	4. Room of Requirement accomplished

**_AN:-Hope you enjoy._**

**_And thanks to CrouchingCrookshanks for being the brave first reviewer! lol thanks it was lovely._**

Chapter 4

When professor Slughorn had said that they were starting with a potion, she hadn't expected this. She looked down at the slip of parchment lying between her and Snape on Monday morning. All it said was, "_Felix Felicis_". That was all it said, nothing of its ingredients nothing of its directions. She paled.

"What does that mean?" she turned to Snape whose features were neutral and in the least worried.

"It is a luck potion, Cromwell." He looked disgusted, "Honestly, have you never heard of it?"

"Shut up, Snape." She scowled, "But doesn't it take six months to brew?"

Professor Slughorn spoke as Snape was about to answer, "Each pair has a different potion in front of them, some will take longer to prepare then others while some have ingredients that are harder to acquire then others. All potions are of an equal advanced difficulty level."

"Professor, there doesn't seem to be an ingredient list or brewing directions on this parchment." Sirius pointed out. Snape snorted.

"Have something to say, Snape?" Sirius demanded as he swirled around to face Snape. He gave Samantha a sympathetic look which she ignored.

"Children…" Professor Slughorn dragged out as he gave Sirius a pitiful smile, "I know, Black. How well you prepare these potions together as a team will be a major part of your final grades. Now, as soon as you have chosen the correct apparatus I need you to bring them to me because I need to put a divided spell on them to make sure that both partners do an equal amount of work." He walked back to his desk at the front of the room and sat behind it. "All potions books within the school have been hexed not show any of these potions, and please don't waste yours and my own time trying to bring in books to help you, for the Headmaster has agreed to filter the mail."

Samantha felt sick.

"Oh and these potions will be done in your own time, we have much to cover this year and I cannot allow your projects to interfere with my teaching." The Professor added.

She felt even sicker. Samantha tried to get Lily's and Annabel's attention, wondering if they were as horrified as she was. She heard Snape clear his throat next to her and turned to look at him.

"It isn't time to gossip with friends, Cromwell. How do you consider we do this?" His face was blank and bored looking.

"So let me get this straight, we have to prepare a potion that takes six months to complete, in our own time, without resources and in our own time?" she said it slowly, making sure he heard everything.

Snape glowered, "It would seem so. The sooner we get started the sooner we finish."

* * *

The week passed slowly, painful slow. Professor Slughorn had told them that this first week was to be dedicated to gathering notes and deciding on the specific apparatus that would be needed. Monday of next week they were all to begin with the brewing, she had talked to several other classmates and it seemed that everyone's potion would take between five and seven months. She was secretly pleased to find out that Sirius and Remus' potion would take the longest – about seven months two days.

"How am I supposed to concentrate on one thing for seven months _and_ everything else that will come up?" Sirius had whined at dinner after that class.

"Could do him some good to actually commit to _something_." Alexis whispered to herself. No one had heard her except Samantha.

"But I shouldn't be the one complaining. Sam, you have to spend time with Snivellus _outside of class_ for six months." he looked horrified as if it were happening to him.

"I know." She said in a neutral tone.

"Public." Potter said as he caught up with what had transpired.

"What?" Samantha asked, starting to become irritated.

"Only meet with him in public. Lord knows what he would do if he got you alone somewhere." He said.

Remus, Peter, Sirius, Alexis, Annabel and even Lily grimaced.

"Your right." said Alexis. "You know how he hates Gryffindors."

Samantha just stared at them.

"Would he really try to hurt Samantha?" Annabel asked, starting to look anxious.

Samantha frowned.

"And he is a soon to be Death Eater, the greasy git." Peter piped in.

"If he doesn't try to harm her he might try to convert her to the Slytherin way of thinking." Potter smashed a fist into his palm.

Remus hadn't said anything but one could tell from his face that he agreed with them, they all turned to Lily who looked from one to the other.

"Well I no longer know who he is; he could be capable of any of those things." She said but Sam saw that deep down it hurt her to realize that she actually meant it. Poor Lily.

"You are all mad." She finally said and they stared back at her, "What next, are going to try to convince me that he might actually try to kill me?"

They didn't say anything, but they didn't deny the thought.

* * *

On the Wednesday of that week Samantha walked into Potions class to find Snape scribbling away on a rather long piece of parchment.

She sat down beside him and stared at his hand as it floated over the parchment. "Are you doing homework?" That stopped him.

Slowly he removed his hand from the parchment, laid the quill neatly beside the parchment and turned to look at her. His face as always held no real expression it was just a bored face, a little shy looking but she would never tell him that.

"Cromwell, may I ask you something?" he asked in that calm, monotone of his.

_This didn't sound good_. She didn't say anything but he continued.

"In Monday's class you extensively reminded me that _our_ potion will take six months to prepare." He reminded her, "For _us_ to actually finish by the third week in March _we_ need to begin straight away on Monday of next week, which is _our_ starting day." He gave her time to respond to this. She had nothing to say so he continued, "Do you know how _we_ will start this potion on Monday?" he asked.

Samantha blinked at him.

"I didn't think so. And from the idiotic expression on your face I can tell that you have not even read up on potions similar to the one _we_ are to make. To busy I presume or has the thought never crossed your mind? Therefore it is left to me to read up and take notes on possible remedies. Is it not?"

He was right, she hadn't even thought about it. But she didn't like the way he was talking to her. "You don't have to make it sound so awful that you have to work with me."

"But, it is." He said simply as he turned back to his parchment. "I will be finished with my ideas around Friday afternoon, and then I will give it to you so that you can," he looked over at her in scrutiny and continued sarcastically, "add your own thoughts." He picked back up his quill and added. "I will leave it to you to decide on a meeting place; however it won't be anywhere near Gryffindors, particularly your friends, or in the library. We need somewhere where we can leave our items undisturbed for a six month period."

_Great_, he was already bossing her around.

* * *

For the next two days she asked around to find out where the others were meeting, so that she wouldn't end up working in the same place as others. Sirius and Remus, and Lily and Annabel were working within their dormitories and a couple of others had asked teachers about using their vacant classrooms. She wanted somewhere that no one will use so that the potion wouldn't be tampered with. She didn't know all of the rooms of Hogwarts but she did know someone who did.

That Friday after lunch she found herself staring through Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor, at the wall opposite her. "The Room of Requirement?" she asked.

"Well, yes dear. Now, what you have to do is walk back and forwards in front of it imagining the perfect room to perform this little experiment." He said as he stepped aside.

She did as he said, but didn't know what to think about. When she was done nothing happened.

Sir Nicholas frowned, "What are you envisioning, my dear?"

"Nothing really, I'm just saying potion over and over in my head." She gave him a sheepish smile.

She tried again but nothing happened. After two more tries she thanked Sir Nicholas and told him that he should go on, that she was going to stay a little while longer to try a bit more. He gave her a salute and headed down the corridor.

About half an hour later, Samantha was sprawled on the cold stone floor in front of the wall. _What was she doing wrong?_ She glared at the wall as she heard voices and footsteps coming up the corridor. She didn't bother look their way as she moved out of the middle of the corridor and leaned against the wall.

"What have we here?" she heard a snide girl's voice say. "A lone Gryffindor? But don't they travel in packs?"

Bellatrix Black, Rodolphus Lestrange and Mulciber…something…stopped in front of her. She sighed inwardly.

"What's the pretty little lion cub doing sitting on the ground alone?" Rodolphus asked a wicked smile on his lips. Samantha watched as something shifted in Bellatrix's eyes at the word 'pretty' leaving Rodolphus' tongue.

Bellatrix turned her cold black eyes on Samantha. "No mirror here to admire yourself in, Gryffindor." She snapped.

Samantha sat up straighter and stared up at her, "It's the serpent that holds vain images of itself and sees nothing but lies."

"Says the lion at the serpent's feet." hissed Bellatrix, as she made to move forward.

"No." Rodolphus' one word stopped her. She stepped back to his side.

Samantha was getting annoyed, "Well, it was a lovely chat, but you are blocking my view." She gave them a dazzling smile.

"Of a wall?" Rodolphus laughed evilly, "We are blocking her view of the wall." Mulciber snorted.

"Did you hear that, Severus? She was staring at a wall, I'm afraid that you have been paired up with an imbecile." Bellatrix laughed.

Samantha watched as Snape came forward from behind the trio. His black hair covered his face and his robes hung lose over his thin frame. _Where all his robes to big for him?_ she wondered.

"I have already realized that, Bella." He said in his monotone voice and looked down his nose at her. _Stupid big nosed snake._ "She's not much different in class you know." He mused, in a pitiful voice.

The three laughed and Snape looked distastefully away. Samantha narrowed her eyes at him. She regretted that she had stopped Sirius and Potter that day they were teasing him. She should have let them bring her into the feud.

Bellatrix watched her closely, like any snake would its prey. "Look, the lion kitten is getting angry." She looked excited about the prospect. "I believe it is going to pounce."

"And he calls me childish." Samantha said as she met Bellatrix's gaze.

Bellatrix gave her a death stare. Rodulphus wrapped a restraining arm around her waist and said, "I'm bored with this." He waved his hand nonchalantly over Samantha, how someone would acknowledge an uninteresting animal and they all turned to leave. She watched them go, her burning eyes following Snape's billowing robes.

* * *

That afternoon she walked to Herbology her mind in turmoil. She hadn't gotten into that room and she had tried for about another ten minutes after the Slytherins had left. She tried to think of different things about potions to think about.

In Herbology she didn't tell Alexis about the exchange. There was no point for her friends would just get riled up for no reason and become a nuisance. She, Alexis and Remus Lupin were in a group today extracting liquids from a poisonous rooted plant that looked suspiciously like a large carrot.

As she held down the withering poisonous carrot thing she caught sight of Snape from across the room. In his group were Rodolphus and a Slytherin girl whose name she didn't recall. Of course Snape was the one with the needle. _Figures_.

After extracting liquids out of the veins of about twenty of these plants and labeling the tubes with the plant's weight, length, sex and shade of orange, they were told to place them into coolers to be kept fresh for next week's class.

While clearing their working place a piece of parchment appeared in Samantha's hand. She unfolded it and saw Snape's scrawl.

'**Wait for me after class.**'

She thought about ignoring it and leaving with her friends but it was Friday and he had said that he was going to give her his notes of how they would begin their project.

After telling Remus and Alexis to go ahead without her she waited outside of the Green House. She watched the sun hang just above the tops of the trees of the Forbidden Forest and told herself that she was getting into the Room of Requirement tomorrow. She heard someone clear their throat behind her.

Severus handed her a rolled up parchment. "If you have something to add, do it in another color." He turned to leave and she just stared after him, not surprised but annoyed at his rudeness.

She caught up to him. "Don't think that you can just boss me around, Snape." She blurted out.

He turned and gave her a disinterested look. "Was I bossing you around back there?" he asked with not a care in the world.

Samantha didn't know why she was even going to try to talk to him about this. "I don't even know why I was going to ask you if it is possible for you to _not_ be rude."

"I don't know why you would ask such a thing either." He agreed.

"Stop mocking me." She demanded.

"Am I mocking you?"

"Just shut up, then."

"How about you walk away?"

And she did.

* * *

Early the next day, which was a Saturday, she was sitting across from the wall that should be the entrance to the Room of Requirement. Twenty five minutes of walking and thinking of things used to make a potion. She wasn't a useless whining girl but what she really wanted to do right now was cry. Just sit there and cry because she couldn't think of the right thoughts to get in this stupid wall. _All I needed is a simple room with all the apparatus possibly needed to make a damn potion. Was that so much to ask?_

Angry she got to her feet and was about to storm off when she glanced back at the wall. There was a door in it. She felt hysterical as she laughed through a sob and she walked closer to the door. She glanced inside and saw a medium sized room with a couch to the far side and a large table in the middle with a large cauldron. On the back walls were a large assortment of potion utensils and potion books. Feeling a wave of accomplishment she closed the door walked down the corridor and came back to find the wall back in place.

She walked back and forwards three times and thought of a simple room to conduct their experiment in and turned to see the door there again. She peeked inside and found the same room.

Walking down to breakfast she felt foolish at how simple it had turned out to be.

**_AN:- Six months with Severus Snape - Can you imagine? *Heart Flutters* lol_**

**_Tell me what you think so far via Reviews :)_**


	5. Warnings, an approval and an apology

**_Hey! I just want to thank my two newest reviewers Kristina321 and Bronze Star for thie lovely reviews, and I hope that I have pleased the evil mice for you CrouchingCrookshanks!_**

**_I hope you all like the fifth chapter! They start the Potion!_**

_Chapter 5_

During breakfast the following Monday Headmaster Dumbledore had silenced the Great Hall and when he had everyone's attention said. "I am pleased to inform you that this Saturday will be the first trip to Hogsmeade village for our students in Third Year and higher."

There was a collective groan from students below the Year limit and a cheer from those you apply.

The Headmaster continued, "Yes, it is very well exciting. The new Seventh Year will also be delighted to know that they now apply to being able to stay for a few hours into the night whereas students below have a curfew of dusk. Everyone had received a letter of parental or guardian acceptance and can only go if you have had it sighed. Those who haven't are required to stay here."

* * *

At the Slytherin table Bellatrix turned to Severus. "Have your parents signed it this year?"

"You know they have not." he told her. His father didn't approve of magic and had no interest in anything his son did. He had refused to sign the letter and had warned Severus' mother not to either.

"I hope that they are the first ones on your list once you leave this place, Severus." Rodolphus said. "I for one wouldn't stand for their treatment of you. Your mother was a fool to marry that muggle but an even greater fool to neglect you."

"She was a blood traitor and a traitor to all pureblooded females." Bellatrix spat.

This, he did appreciate from his friends. They all came from families that cared for their children and tried to get the best for and from them. And though it was true that he himself was the spawn of a traitorous wench they saw through it and appreciated his pure talents and his own adoption of their beliefs.

* * *

In Potions Samantha handed back Snape's parchment. It had taken hours to read, dissect and understand. His notes were excessively detailed and nothing seemed to be missing. She tried to think of additions but it was futile, everything was there and if she were honest she couldn't even have corrected it if there had been mistakes or changes to be made. However she had found a word spelt incorrectly and she felt smug about its finding.

Severus glanced over the parchment and found one addition written in curvy opposing red writing. _Girlish writing_. "Thank you, for correcting my grave mistake, Cromwell." He said derisively.

"Your welcome." She said ignoring his tone.

"Have you concluded to a place then?" he asked as he slipped the parchment into his bag.

She nodded and asked when she should take him to it. They agreed to meet after lunch.

* * *

"Where are you and Snape going to be working?" Annabel asked during lunch.

"A room on the seventh floor." She said. For some reason she didn't want to tell anyone about the room. She suspected that not many people knew about the room and perhaps they shouldn't.

"Lily and I aren't going to start until Wednesday, seeing as we have never even heard of our potion – we still have much research to do. Thank heavens ours only takes five months to prepare." Annabel sighed.

"I don't want to sound obnoxious but I think that I would rather have prepared a potion for ten months then sit through Ancient Runes for the rest of the year." Alexis scrunched up her face, "Its hours of reading and pictures in class and then more hours of reading and pictures out of class. I will soon need glasses." She said in horror of the thought.

"I wonder if we get to test our potions when we are finished with them." Sirius mused.

Lupin grimaced, "I for one would not willingly want to test a potion that you and I have produced."

Samantha laughed. Lupin smiled at her. Sirius frowned.

"So Sam, are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Sirius inquired.

"Ugh, yes Sirius I am." She told him. _Please don't ask me out, please don't ask me out_.

"_We_ should go to the Three Broomsticks." He suggested.

Samantha saw a way around it, "Sirius, _we_ all _will_ be going there." She said with a dopey smile looking over at Lily to make it look like she truly hadn't realized that he had meant only the two of them.

Sirius looked befuddled, "Ugh, no I meant…" he looked like he didn't know what he should say, "Never mind." He said hastily.

Samantha watched the curious look James and Remus shared but didn't try to comprehend it as her gaze drifted to the Slytherin table where Snape had just gotten up. _Oh, yes_.

"Well I've got to go." She said and walked after Snape. She felt her friends burning gazes on the back of her neck as they watched her leave, not technically with Snape but still with him. It scared her to.

"So where is this room?" Snape asked staring at the floor where he waited for her to catch up down the corridor.

"It's the Room of Requirement, it's on the seventh floor." She informed him.

He looked up at her then, "The room of what?"

She felt secretly pleased that he had never heard of it. "It's a room…well come I'll show you." she said as she reached for his arm.

He quickly shrugged away from her, giving her a stern look. "Sorry." she mumbled and continued down the corridor. _Wow that was close,_ she shivered. It must have been ingrained in her from acting so freely with others. She had to watch that around him.

* * *

Once on the seventh floor Severus stood next to Samantha when she stopped in the same area he and his friends had found her in last week. He looked at what she was smiling at and it was just a wall.

"This corridor is were you plan to - " he began incredulously.

"No," she interrupted and began to walk back and forwards in front of the wall. Since Professor Slughorn had hexed all of their equipment she thought of just the room they needed.

Snape was about to leave when he saw a door appear in the wall. He stared at it, slightly shocked.

"Oh my," Samantha said as she looked at his face. "a serpent _can_ show emotion."

He scowled at her as they walked to the door and he looked inside. It wasn't that impressive, it was medium sized, looked like a dungeon room and had a few tables, chairs and a couch. But then he saw the bookshelves with potions book and he changed his first impression.

"The room will only be here for us. All we have to do is walk in front of it wanting this particular room and it will appear. We can leave everything in here and it will stay as we left it. No one else will be able to get access to this specific room that we haven't shown." She told him everything Sir Nicholas had told her.

Snape walked over to the bookshelf and asked, "I assume it can become any room someone requires it to be?"

"Yes, and as soon as we close the door it will disappear on the outside." She said as she closed the door.

He turned to her and gave her a rather odd approving look. It looked severe but she understood it to be of approval. She didn't mind it.

"How long have you known of this room?" he asked as he withdrew a small pouch out of his robe pocket.

"Quite a while." She lied as she watched his fingers remove the contents of the pouch and place it all on the table, then he whispered something and they all enlarged and there stood their best friends for the next six months.

"This is the most useful thing that you have ever brought to the table, Cromwell." He said and his voice actually sounded sincere – not mocking or annoyed.

The sudden change in his tone made her slightly uncomfortable. "Ah, thanks?" she said, not knowing if she should have said anything at all since if she read further into his comment it still had an insult embedded in it- that she hadn't brought anything to the table at all till then.

"We begin tomorrow." He stated.

* * *

Snape was giving her that shrewd look again that he should have known that she would be useless. It was Tuesday and they had decided to start the potion during the free period they had together after Transfiguration.

He had given her the responsibility of correctly heating the water that they were to use as the base of the potion.

"Honestly, you couldn't even get the water right?" he was spitting fire at her. "If this is any indication of how you will perform for the next couple hundred steps of the brew then I think that we should stop right here and now."

"How was I supposed to know that you meant Fahrenheit and not Celsius?" she demanded. She hated how she slightly felt embarrassed while it was irrational for him to get so mad. Under any other circumstances she would have told the person off and not felt a thing. She also hated how she seemed to be the yelling child in the situation and he the calm yet stern adult. She wanted to lash out.

"All of my notes were in Fahrenheit." He said as if it explained everything.

"You didn't specify in your notes what degree you used." She said slowly through clenched teeth her anger building gradually.

He stared at her and struck out his hand to catch his notes which flew into his outstretched hand. He looked through it and his expression slackened. He read every line of the two foot parchment and couldn't find one simple word of 'Fahrenheit', not even a symbol that represented it.

A smile spread over Samantha's face as heat spread over his.

He didn't look at her as he said, "Everyone knows that it is more accurate to use Fahrenheit, which is why we will be using it when we work with temperatures from now on."

"Say it." she demanded. She wasn't going to let him get away with it that easily, besides she liked that shade of pink in his cheeks and the way his eyes looked sort of unfocused. She could bet that he was fuming and that if she urged the subject the color would stay a bit longer.

"I have nothing to say to you." he said with a passion that his voice rose slightly.

"I think that you do." she said as she placed a fist to her hip. She watched as his jaw clenched and unclenched a few times and she waited. For this she could wait a while.

From his expression he had made up his mind. What he had decided she couldn't tell.

Slowly he said, "I apologize…_perhaps_ I did overreact."

Point for Gryffindor.

* * *

In Care of Magical Creatures that evening Samantha felt empowered. It was childish but it was the best she had felt for the past few days. She could fight back against his obnoxious attitude and she could outwit him. The next few months might just be tolerable.

"Why are you so happy?" Lily and Alexis asked her when the teacher finally turned her back to them to retrieve yet another species of underwater fire-breathing clams.

Samantha hadn't planned on telling them but it bubbled out of her. Sadly she hadn't known that the Marauders were standing behind them listening.

"You made him blush?" Potter demanded.

"He hasn't done that for us in almost a year and we call him out on much worse offenses." Sirius actually looked gloomy.

"You weren't meant to hear that." She said looking at them as though they had caught her in her underwear. "I swear, if I hear back from anyone that you are handing out this information, I will - "

"Why are you defending him?" Potter demanded her accusingly.

"First of all I am not defending the git. But I need to stay on semi-good terms with him, since most of my Potion grade is riding this project. And secondly Potter," she narrowed her eyes at him, "I don't quite appreciate your tone."

Potter looked incredulous, and Sirius gave him a stern look. He slapped him over the head and turned a flashy smile at Samantha, "It is a shame though. It would have been fun getting him to blush like a girl for us again."

She didn't return his smile but asked seriously, "Please, for me, keep it to your selves."

His expression also turned serious, "Alright."

* * *

The following day went by quickly and Samantha found herself with Remus patrolling the first two floors of Hogwarts. Like she, Remus was a Gryffindor Prefect, they had been given a duty schedule the second day back to school and tonight was their first time on duty so far.

"Merlin, I never knew this place could be so quiet." She heard Remus say as they walked the corridors of the two floors making sure no mischievous students were running around.

She turned to look at him. He was her height with light brown hair, cut short around the neck but fell into his eyes on top, which in the sun looked sometimes reddish. He had brown eyes and a pale and sincere face which had a few old scars on it. She had known him for six years now but didn't really know anything about him. Sometimes he looked older then he really was and he might have come from a poor family because his robes were always shabby and patched. Out of the four Marauders he was the only seemingly mature one, he kept his grades high and didn't seem to take a direct part in their pranks or bullying.

"So have you and Sirius started your potions yet?" she asked as they rounded yet another corridor.

She watched him smile, "I believe that Sirius and I will just have to fail this one."

She laughed, "Surely you don't mean that."

"No, we have actually started. If we had waited any longer we might have had to carry on with it into the summer." He told her.

"You two did get the potion that would take the longest to prepare."

"Yes, but most of our ingredients should be generally simple to get." He paused then asked, "How is it going with Snape?"

She groaned, "Consistently dreadful."

He laughed.

"Shut up." She said but smiled with him. "I mean there are some moments when we are working that aren't so bad but he's just…there's just too much wrong with him to get into this."

"I can imagine." He said.

"If he wasn't so rude or dull it would make him a bit more bearable." She sighed, "He doesn't like to talk about anything, he doesn't do anything but work and he…I don't know."

"He's always been like that. It's who he is." He said thoughtfully.

"I guess. Perhaps it's the combination of him and me that doesn't allow anything to work out, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if one of us would just back down and shut the hell up. But I would say something and he would react totally absurd or he would say something to me and - "

"And you give him hell for it." Remus laughed.

She laughed to, "Exactly. Too much consistency and no budge."

They were quiet for a while and then she asked, "Why is it that you don't take part when your friends bully him?"

He looked at her, "Should I?"

"No, it's immature and pointless but I was just wondering."

He looked thoughtful; he was the only Marauder that could even pull off looking thoughtful. "I don't like him for many of the same reasons everyone else doesn't like him. He is rude, a loner, a blood and house prejudiced and I think that driven far enough he can be quite sadistic. He is also a hypocrite for disliking blood-traitors, as they so call it, because he himself is a half-blood."

Samantha was perplexed, "Really? I never knew that."

Remus laughed, "Because you don't follow gossip, which is a very un-Gryffindor thing to do by the way."

She gave him a goaded look.

"But yes, his mother was a witch and his father a muggle. I know this from Lily; you probably haven't heard her talk much about him because their friendship was already under strain when you started hanging out with her." he paused and smiled across at her, "With us."

"You still haven't told me why you don't bully him."

"To be honest I also don't see the point. It isn't helping make him a better person it's probably doing the exact opposite. But they wouldn't understand that." He said, shaking his head at his friend's tactlessness.

"Yeah," she agreed as they reached the stairs to the first floor.

"I did mean what I said though. I think that if he is pushed far enough we will all see what he truly is and what he's truly capable of and I'm afraid it won't be very comforting." He said staring ahead.

"So you think he's into the Dark Arts as well." She stated.

"Yes, and if not yet, then he will be. They all will be Samantha." He was the only one that always called her Samantha. She wondered if he knew that she preferred it. "Everyone knows that Slytherins will side with the Dark Lord. All of his current followers came from the Slytherin house and I bet that most of the Slytherin's parents are involved as well. It's only a matter of time that their children follow in their footsteps."

She knew it was true but she didn't what to believe that everyone did as they were expected to do, especially when the expected task would be so obviously the wrong one. She couldn't even imagine what kind of people would actually agree with the Dark Lord's illogical initiatives, but obviously many people do.

As they made their way back up towards the Gryffindor common room and dormitories Remus asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

She smiled, "Sure."

"Why is that you won't even _let_ Sirius ask you out?" he asked point blank.

Samantha didn't want to go through this again. But he didn't seem like he thought she was an idiot not to like Sirius he just sounded genuinely curious. "Well I try to avoid it because I do see him as a friend; a sometimes good friend and I don't want to be that girl that keeps letting him down. Even though I will soon not care about his feelings if he keeps it up." She suppressed a groan.

"How is it that you're the only girl that doesn't want to give him a chance." He asked, looking sideways at her.

After telling her self that he wasn't just getting news for Sirius she felt that it was safe to go on. "Probably because I'm the only girl here with a brain."

Remus laughed but then choked on it as he tried to restrain himself, "Hey, that's my friend your talking about." He said in mock warning.

She smiled and added, "He's a playboy, Remus. We don't have much in common, I don't want to do that to myself and I know that all the other girls out there want him way more then I ever will so he shouldn't waste his time with me. Nothing is there."

Again he looked thoughtful, "What is it that you want there?" at her frown he said, "You don't have to tell me."

"I don't think I will," she looked over to him, "but not because I don't want to tell you – because I don't really know what isn't there."

* * *

Severus made his way down the dungeon corridors towards the comforting cold of the Slytherin common room and dormitory. He still felt his disgust at what he had overheard from Lupin and Cromwell. Perhaps she did have a slightly larger brain then most girls when it came to Black but it made him sick to hear someone actually caring about Black's feelings and yada-yada-yada.

Poor Cromwell, it seems that half the Marauders want a piece of her. There she was trusting Lupin, the dog!, with her thoughts and he just looks at her with those same eyes Sirius looks at her with – as if he wants to make her his. Fools the lot of them. Love was probably what she thought was missing, well she had a long wait ahead of her the poor girl – doesn't even know that it doesn't exist and if it did it wouldn't come in a silk wrapped packaging. It would come in a coarse foul smelling wrapping, with nothing fueling it but obsession and one person's dominance over the other persons need for them. It would be a mind game, the strong holding the weak by throat above the ground. Well he wished her luck with that.

**_AN:- Now I love Remus, but if there are any hardcore Remus fans reading don't get your hopes up!_**

**_I mean they dooo sort of try something I mean not realy but in a way there could be a little hope but it will never happen but I can see why you 'will' think so but anyway no._**

**_lol get that? anyone? just me ranting_**

**_I hope you liked what you read and leave poor little ol me a nice (but if you'd rather - not nice) review._**

**_I will see how many people actually read this chapter! And if it doesn't add up then....i will join forces with CrouchingCrookshanks and ask to let lose the evil mice on all our souls...those who don't review...._**

**_Magic is real people - I know you know this or you wouldn't love HP so much!_**


	6. A smile and an invitation

**_AN: I hope people are still reading :)_**

_Chapter 6_

Saturday came and Samantha found herself sitting at a round table in the Three Broomsticks with Lily, Alexis, Annabel and the four Marauders. They each had a butter beer and there was a large platter of biscuits between them all. The room was buzzing with students and locals chatting, drinking and having fun. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and a light breeze and almost everyone above Third Year was out and about in Hogsmeade.

"Thank Merlin, for this Hogsmeade weekend." James said as he picked up another biscuit.

"I know what you mean mate, school is utterly mundane." Sirius said.

"We have only been in school for three weeks now." Lily chided. She looked around at the other defeated faces and got no help from anyone.

"Sorry, Lil. I'm too exhausted to disagree about having enough with school. Do you know how many hours I've read up on Ancient Ruins this week?" she paused for emphasis and then groaned, "About twenty-eight hours! That is more then a day of reading. I swear I'm going to drop it. I had no idea that all we would be doing is reading."

Pettigrew looked puzzled, "We had reading to do in Ancient Ruins?"

James chuckled as Alexis groaned.

Annabel cleared her throat, "I have something I want to tell you."

"I wonder when the first Quidditch match will be." James mused.

Annabel tried again, "I - "

"Hopefully soon, mate, I'm losing all my muscle mass." That time it was Sirius.

"Ugh, I - "

"Yeah, you know - "

"Merlin, shut it! Can't you see that Annabel wants to tell us something?" Samantha snapped.

They all stared at her, Annabel smiled, and James just lifted a brow and said, "You know your getting a lot feistier." Sirius smacked him over the head, "Ouch!"

"I'm feistier because I don't like how you think that you're on such a permanent position on that high horse?" she questioned. "Annabel was trying to talk and you just kept on going, the sad part is I bet you couldn't even hear her under your egotistical thoughts."

James mumbled something but Samantha turned to Annabel.

"Thank you." she said and shot the boys a mean but on her cute stare. She was never one to stand up against everyone because she was too nice. Perhaps that's why Samantha had always felt the need to stand up for her. "I only wanted to tell you girls but I'm to excited." And she was, she was practically jumping out of her seat.

Lily, Samantha and Alexis moved closer to Annabel as the boys started chatting again. "What is it?" Alexis asked.

"Well, I am sad to say that I will only be spending half of the day with you all." She pouted.

"What do you mean?" Lily urged.

"I've got a date!" she said and clapped her hands once.

"With who?" Samantha and Alexis both asked.

"Gregory Bones."

"From Ravenclaw?" asked Lily.

"Whose mother is in the Ministry?" asked Alexis.

"Who is quite the handsome boy?" asked Samantha.

Annabel turned to answer Samantha first with a yes and then to more yeses to the other two questions. "This morning just after we left the Great Hall and I had to fetch my coat I ran into him on the stairs and he sort of just blurted it out." she explained.

"That's great." Samantha said and they other two girls smiled.

Later after wishing Annabel a great date and telling the other two girls that she didn't feel well she headed back to Hogwarts castle.

* * *

Once Samantha was back in the castle she headed straight for the Owlery, she had a letter to give to a school owl to deliver to her family. It was the first one she had written for the past two weeks and she felt guilty already. As she walked through the archway into the Owlery she bumped into someone and fell backwards onto the ground. Thank Merlin they weren't fully in the Owlery or she would have been sitting in Owl dung right now.

"Sorry." She heard her assailant say and she recognized his soft voice.

"Oh," she said as she looked up to see his face.

He must have just looked at her as well because he grimaced and said, "Oh its you, well watch where your going." He got to his feet and stood above her staring down at her.

She sat there looking up at him and waited – to see if a serpent could lend a hand. A moment went by and she reminded herself that they had no hands to lend and she got to her feet.

"I thought you would stay down there forever." he said as he made to leave.

"Whose the letter from?" she asked as she caught a glimpse of the envelope in his hand.

He narrowed his eyes, she was still blocking his exist. "Gryffindor, your never ending inquisitiveness is daunting." She didn't move and he clenched his jaw. "Be so kind and get out of the way."

"How come you're not in Hogsmeade?" she asked looking at her nails. She just felt like annoying him now.

_Your wand is in your pocket, hex her, hex her!_ He didn't remove his gaze from her face but studied her instead. Her blonde hair fell around her face today, its different shades blowing around her. Her blue eyes were lowered at the moment but they were probably darker with her unbearable attitude. She had smooth skin – probably came from a pampered background or something – used to getting everything she wants. It was probably one of the reasons she always stood up to him. Getting what you want all your life can do two things to you – make you lazy and smug not letting you do anything for yourself or arrogant and always fighting, to keep on getting what you want. Apparently she was the latter. She was a pain in his ass but she wasn't the worst Gryffindor scum out there. For that he would allow her one answer to a direct question.

"My parents wouldn't sign the form." As soon as he said it and her eyes raised to his he wished he hadn't had that lapse in judgment.

"You forgot to ask them?"

He had to leave now, "No."

"They just didn't sign it?"

"You're asking too many questions." He said as he moved around her.

"Why did you answer?" she demanded.

"Merlin, are you infuriating," he turned to her, "Why did I answer what?"

"My first question, you never answer my questions with what I actually asked you for."

"And I never will again because as soon as it came out you asked a hundred more questions." He crushed the letter in his hand. He stared down at it and began to smooth it out. He looked up to find her right next to him.

"Who's the letter from?"

He was quite for a moment collecting his rage out of the air around them and sinking it back into the back of his mind. "They should create a whole new house for people like you." he said and turned.

Samantha quickly grabbed an owl and tied her letter to it and ran after him. He moved a lot quicker then she thought he moved. When she caught up to him she heard him groan.

"Honestly, you're like a dog. I have fed you once and now you expect more. You're not going to get attached and become needy will you?" He stopped walking.

How dare he call her a dog, she felt her heart rate speed up and her fist clench as her eyes narrowed.

She punched him in the arm; he hadn't seen it coming and was amazed as pain ran up his arm. "How dare you!" she yelled. She never was the quiet type.

Then she looked at his shocked face and the hand that he held to his arm. Shock crossed over her features, "Oh Merlin. I'm sorry I didn't…its just…did I hurt you? You just get me so mad sometimes. I've wanted to really hurt you before but I never imagined…" She had her hand over his and was looking into his face then back at his arm and back again.

Rage was his first emotion but the look of horror on her face made it to comical. She was crazy, completely crazy, and he smiled.

"You're smiling!" this outraged her even more.

"I have smiled before." He said hastily as he stopped and placed the much more comfortable frown on his face.

"Yes, but at nothing that I have caused." She looked down at the floor, "I'm sorry."

"You've wanted to hurt me before?" he asked, it didn't surprise him that she had. "You know I should report you, I mean you're a Prefect. Not only that but you're a perfect little Gryffindor, imagine what people might think of your alarmingly violent tendencies."

She punched him again in the same spot. "Hey!" This time when he looked up at her it wasn't as comical because she was really mad this time.

"You know what, I'm not sorry. I don't like you very much, Snape. I know you know this but right now I'm telling you. I hate how you treat people, I hate your illusionary superiority and I think that you should come down to earth and get over yourself."

"Funny," he said, no longer amused, "I would tell you the same thing."

"I am nothing like you." she denied.

"Whereas that is completely true you have illusions of yourself that you should _get over_ as well."

"There's no talking to you." she ran a frustrated hand through her hair. She turned to walk down the hall, "Why do I keep trying?"

He followed her, "What is it you keep trying, Cromwell?"

"To be nice to you, hell perhaps not that far but I try, I try to strike up a conversation with you, to get to know something about you so that I can understand for myself why you're such an asshole, but every time I try you either attack me or make me attack you. All I hear are these ridiculous rumors and then I look at you and they all seem to be true which is outrageous. How can someone be like that? How can you be like you? But what am I saying – everyone in Slytherin is like you aren't they?"

"It's lovely to know that it is my own fault why you attack me. Well it's your own fault why I, presumably, attack you. Maybe this is a sign that perhaps you shouldn't understand, that you should just back off and leave me and everyone else alone. I know it would be something hard for you to do but it would benefit everyone greatly."

"Shut up, Snape." She said as she started walking faster.

* * *

Snape was fuming as he entered the Slytherin common area where Bellatrix and Rodolphus where waiting for him. Bellatrix grabbed the letter out of his hands and used her nails to rip open the thick parchment.

"What's wrong, Severus?" Rodolphus asked, watching him pace.

Severus knew better then this, he controlled his breathing and sat down across from Rodolphus and gave him a shrug. "I just foolishly let one the Marauders get to me, I'm fine now."

"They aren't worth it, Severus. We'll get them one day, you wait and they'll see. They won't know what hit them." he said his eyes going a bit cross.

Bellatrix handed the letter back to Severus, "You're the Potion master, can you finish it by the next Hogsmeade visit?"

Snape looked over the ingredients for the Dark Magic invisibility potion. "Easily."

* * *

Almost a month passes, during which Samantha could only be found in the library when not in class, in the Great Hall or sleeping. She had decided to do her own study of the similar potions to the one she and Snape were making and to find the similar ingredients used in those and concluding reasons why they were used. She assumed that since the potion was a luck potion that if she read up on the history of other such potions and that there would be a common bond between them. So she divided her time reading between such potions and reading about unlucky potions and trying to figure out what each of its ingredients counterpart was.

She had found out a lot in the last two weeks and when she had proposed some of her ideas to Snape as they sat in Potions she was surprised when he had said that some of them were actually fine and plausible ideas. Of course he had also said that some of them were insulting to his intelligence and he mumbled something about her being _a fool to think that he hadn't thought of that_. At least he wasn't as hostile anymore, or at least not as frequently hostile.

It was the Tuesday in the third week of October and she and Snape were again in the Room of Requirement during the period they both had free after Transfiguration. Samantha watched him stir the potion, first ten times clockwise and then ten times anticlockwise. He had told her last week that it was prudent to be consistent in the stirring of the potion. Well, he hadn't really told her this he has more speaking to himself then her. He showed such care and concentration in the potion it was sometimes eerie and other times fascinating.

As she watched him wash his hands in a cold flame from his wand that day he said, "It will need to simmer now. Ingredients will be next required in a month's time." He held out his wand to her and she hesitated but washed her hands in the flame quickly. She'd never seen such a thing before and wondered if he had read it up in one of those books he's always reading, a cleansing cold flame. It was the first time he had offered her to use it as well. He probably didn't even notice it.

"So what are you going to do for the next month without me then?" she asked, horrified as it left her mouth.

He stared at her in suspicion and slowly said, "I hope that you are joking."

"Of course I was." She said hastily.

"Besides, I have no choice but to see you three times a week in Potions and be in your presence five days a week in every other class. Honestly, Cromwell I can't get away from you." he spat and rearranged their apparatus.

"I'm not the one that is unbearable to be around." She shot back her fists going to her waist again. This was how they had ended most meetings for the past month - him saying something stupid and she getting just as stupid – or the other way around.

"I beg to differ. You're nagging and not even in the girlish sense, in a way that I have never experienced and you can't go a single minute without saying something."

"And the fact that you can go for days without saying anything is so much better? You're a freak of nature, Slytherin." Of course she was the one close to yelling and he was calm.

"And you, Gryffindor, don't seem to realize that not everyone you know is your friend. The world doesn't revolve around you, not everyone is interested in everything you say."

"At least I have something to say."

"Why should I say something to you that might benefit you when I can keep it to myself and let you walk around just the way you are?"

"I don't even know what you're insulting me about now." and she didn't.

"Because you don't have the brain capacity." He informed her and as he left the room said, "See you in a month."

She stared at the door getting her anger back under control. "See you in Potions tomorrow, Snape."

* * *

It was a Thursday night again and Samantha was patrolling the third and fourth floors with Remus.

"I want to hurt him, Remus." She told him, "I mean really hurt him."

"I know you think you mean it but I don't think you really want to hurt anyone." He said, again trying to calm her down.

"Well then I don't think you know me at all, Remus." She said and glowered.

He laughed, "Well, alright."

They were quiet for a while and then Remus said out of the blue, "Its funny how Lily always gets herself in worse with James."

Samantha smiled at that. Remus had finally taught James and Sirius how to play Canasta and James had bet Lily that he could beat her in a match. She hadn't believed him and agreed but then he made it interesting by betting that if he won she had go to the Halloween dance with him the following weekend. Still not believing that he could win she agreed. Samantha, Annabel, Alexis and the three other Marauders sat there for an hour and a half watching the two play the previous night. Samantha had bet on Lily but secretly she knew that James would win.

"You do know that they are going to end up together right?" she asked Remus.

"Yes, I do. Together forever those two." He said as he smiled.

After a moment she asked, "So who are you taking to the dance?"

He was quiet for a moment and when she looked back at him he was already looking at her, "I was going to ask you." Sirius had already gotten over asking her out and had invited a Ravenclaw girl to the dance with him. She had thought herself free.

_Oh no_. She really liked him, she really did like him but as friends. She would have felt something with him by now if there was something. She grimaced, she was starting to sound more and more like those girls in those romance novels she's been stealing from her mother. She looked into his brown eyes and felt completely guilty when she said…

"As, friends Samantha, we can go as friends but I wanted someone to dance with." He said before she had said no.

"Oh," This she could do, she couldn't have said yes and led him on but she really hadn't wanted to hurt him if he really felt something for her. "Sure, I would love to. I should warn you though, I'm an excellent dancer."

He laughed, "I bet you are. Well, I bet I'm even better."

**_AN: Sam is telling people to shut up alot lately i noticed....o well_**

**_Review and Read! In which ever order :)_**

**_And again thanks to those that are reviewing they are much appreciated! These chapters are only poping up so fast because of them :) the next to might take a bit longer to post._**

**_Ah - a dance, i wonder if Severus will be there...I wonder if there will be any drama.....hmmm.....i guess you'll only know if you READ. :)_**

**_I have so much in mind that i want to put in this fic and alot of it is cute alot of it is sad and more is angsty and guess whaaat? - more reviews will motivate even more_**


	7. A meeting with Lucius

**_AN:- Hey! I just want to quickly thank again all those (few but amazing) people that have left me wonderful reviews._**

**_Hope you all like this chapter as well._**

_Chapter 7_

That Saturday in Hogsmeade wasn't going to be as cheerful as the last visit. The weather was starting to show signs of the upcoming winter. The wind was sharper and the trees were shivering more, losing color and leaves. It also didn't help that two muggle-born ministry secretaries were found tortured and murdered the previous day.

Samantha and her friends sat around the Daily Prophet in the Great Hall and read the article. Apparently a group of Death Eaters had gotten word that the two women were muggle born and had been ordered to kidnapped and tortured them as a massage to the Ministry. The Dark Lord wanted access to the Ministry and this was his warning at how easily he could just walk in and make the Ministry fall.

"I can't believe this." Annabel said.

"They went missing in the middle of the day, right out of the Ministry's building and they don't even have witnesses. They don't have any suspects besides-"

"Hundreds of Death Eaters." Samantha finished for Lily. "Seriously, they know that they are under attack and they couldn't even boost security, especially on the muggle born – the damn targets. The Dark Lord is right about one thing, that the people in the Ministry are fools."

"Samantha!" Annabel yelped.

"I agree to some extent." Alexis spoke up.

"I do as well, but I would rather be run by fools then by the Dark Lord." Lily added.

"True," Samantha agreed, but if they would have had smarter people in the Ministry to begin with the possibility of Lord Voldemort taking over wouldn't be so high and uncertain.

"Gregory said his mum worked on the same floor as the two women and no one noticed anything." Annabel told them, glancing over at the Ravenclaw table. Samantha look as well and saw Gregory wave to Annabel with a sad smile. He was a sweet guy, kind and had manners and he did seem to like Annabel a lot.

"One thing is for certain," Remus said as he sat down across from them.

"_Some_ people aren't sorrowful or worried at all." finished Sirius.

"And why should they be?" James added, "They are not on our side."

Samantha looked over at the Slytherin table. They sat poised in their statue-like arrogant elegance and looked as though they hadn't heard that two innocent women were tortured and murdered yesterday for being simply born to muggles. A few of them were talking in groups, a few reading other pages of the Daily Prophet and some were even laughing at what others were saying.

"Either that or they try to see the best in all situations." Alexis said distastefully.

Samantha looked for Snape but she didn't see him, nor did she see his three, what he called friends.

* * *

An few hours later they sat at the same round table they had sat at on their last visit to the Three Broomsticks. They had begun talking about yesterday's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. They had finally started working to create Patronus'.

"Its annoying that mine isn't strong enough yet to have a form." Says Sirius. "James here has a Stag as his Patronus, imagine that." The Marauders shared a laugh and Samantha raised a brow realizing there was a hidden message somewhere in there. She looked over at Remus to find him looking at her, his eyes a little wary.

She gave him a smile and caught the slightly annoyed look on Sirius' face as he looked from her to Remus before he turned back to James.

* * *

Severus sat in a chair against the wall with a full view of the entire room of the Three Broomsticks. Rodolphus and Bellatrix had a Firewhisky in front of them and Mulciber a Dragon's Tongue. He had drunk a cup of the Invisibility potion Lucius had given him the ingredients for, that morning. A few of the ingredients he had Mulciber steal from Professor Slughorn's stash. It was a Dark Arts potion which didn't allow the most powerful of wizards to see the hidden person. Lucius had said that Dumbledore could do just that, see through invisibility and the Dark Lord didn't want them to draw attention to themselves.

Snape watched the groups of friends and listened to the incoherent chatter within the room. His gaze fell on Cromwell and her, what she called, friends and he heard his name come up in their conversation. Seeing the benefit of his position he cautiously left his seat and walked over to their table.

"No it's not surprising at all that his Patronus was a flawless snake." James said.

"I don't know why everyone hasn't added two and two. He and the rest of those Slytherins are all into the Dark Arts." Sirius added.

"I guess we are the only people that see right through them, mate." James said. "I find it more surprising that something like him could even have good thoughts to produce a Patronus." He scoffed.

"Probably imagines himself as king of the rats or something." Sirius mused.

"Snape, I bet he gives you nothing but trouble, Sam." Pettigrew said with disgust.

This stirred Sirius and James back up, "I bet. He is probably sickly thrilled to be spending so much time with a girl."

"Yeah figures the only way he could get a girl to spend time with him is if she was forced into it." James added.

Snape clenched his invisible hands but just stood there.

"He's such a freak." Pettigrew piped in.

"I wonder what kind of weird things he is doing right now since his Slytherin buddies are all in Hogsmeade." James pondered.

"Wonder why he doesn't come to Hogsmeade."

"It would spoil everyone's day if he had come."

"Man I dislike him."

"I can't wait until the next time we see him, I want to show - "

Samantha's spell hit the three boys the same time that Snape's did.

"Ouch!" Sirius, Pettigrew and James said holding a hand to their heads.

"You three are pathetic. Could you shut up about him for one second? I am the one that is stuck with him day in and day out and when I'm not being forced to work with him I have to listen to you drone on and on about him. Honestly, you're all obsessed. You should really consider being more like Remus." She snapped grabbing a napkin in her hands and started tearing it up in the space in front of her.

Severus stared at her. So he did irritate her as much as she irritated him. He smiled.

He watched Potter sneer, "That's because Remus is a passive aggressive." He rubbed his head. "You didn't have to hit us so hard." he whined.

"The only reason you said that about Remus is because you're going to the Halloween dance with him." Sirius said.

So he was right about Lupin's intentions, Severus thought.

"No it isn't, Sirius." Samantha said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, Sirius, get over whatever jealous feelings you have right now." Remus said.

That was the first time Severus had ever heard any of the Marauders stand up to the other.

Sirius looked over Samantha with cold glowing eyes and sneered, "I have nothing to be jealous of."

Severus watched as Samantha's jaw clenched but she stayed composed.

"Don't you talk about her like that." This from the petite Annabel Shrew.

"I'm just saying that she could have outright told me that she didn't want anything to do with me, because she's in love with Remus here." Sirius growled.

"I am not in love with anyone." Samantha said back, she didn't yell it, she hadn't yelled at all during the exchange which surprised Severus. He watched as she gave Remus a horrified look at what she had said but he gave her an encouraging smile to let her know that it was okay and Severus felt sick to his stomach. "Besides Sirius, you're going to the dance with Ashley Dimple. You didn't even ask me so I don't know why you're mad that I'm going with Remus."

Sirius got up, "I'm not mad." He said between clenched teeth.

* * *

Severus walked along side his three friends as they made their way through Hogsmeade village towards the mountain side where Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy where to meet them. They wanted to meet with them to give them more information and see how they were doing presumably.

They walked towards the cave at the base of the wooded area of the mountain. Mulciber stayed outside to stand watch. Once inside Severus saw the tall, elegant couple waiting. Physically they were a match made in heaven, slim and pale with silky white blonde hair. Their expressions were superior and true, slightly arrogant but more calculating. The only true difference was in Lucius' eyes which were cold and dull whereas Narcissa still had some light in her own.

Severus watched Narcissa's eyes connect with Bellatrix's, they nodded to each other but other then that didn't say anything.

"Good to see you all." Lucius stated as the two visible students bowed slightly before him. He was after all the Dark Lord's right hand for now. "Severus." He said as he lifted a hand holding a small bottle into the space in front of him. He was looking at Bellatrix and Rodolphus as he said it.

Severus took the bottle out of Lucius' hand and watched as Lucius' eyes jumped to the spacewhere he thought Severus' head would have been. He opened the cork and cautiously took a sniff and registered the ingredients he recognized. He didn't trust Lucius he didn't trust anyone but after deeming the potion nontoxic he took a swig of it.

"Does the Dark Lord have something for us to do yet, Lucius?" Rodolphus asked as Severus made his way back towards them.

Lucius laughed and it sounded genuine enough but had an echo of empty humor. "So eager the younger generation is to become of use to the Dark Lord. Your relentless will please him."

Bellatrix smiled excitedly.

"However no, your time to join in the fight has not yet come." He informed them and Bellatrix's smile fell once more. "He has asked for this meeting to find out if you are still practicing at you talents, he wanted me to encourage you to keep at it."

"Of course, Lucius." Bellatrix answered. "Severus is soon a master at Legilimency and Rodolphus a master at Memory charms."

Lucius' gaze went to Severus and Severus met his gaze head on, "Nice to finally meet you Severus Snape - born to a witch mother and muggle father, much like our Lord. Legilimency? Not even the purest of bloods have talent in such an art. You do know that the Dark Lord is also a master at Legilimency?"

"Of course, Lucius. There is little our Lord isn't a master at." He said out of full respect.

Lucius put his hand into his robe pocket and brought out a very ancient looking book and with his wand he levitated the book in Severus' direction. "The Dark Lord has asked me to get this book to you, Severus. It contains his own notes and thoughts about the art of Legilimency. He wants you absolutely perfect at it."

Severus reached out when the book was hovering in the area in front of him and glanced at the worn and dark cover that bound the book. "It is an honor to be using something that our Lord himself has used."

Lucius nodded, "I will let Him know." Then he turned his attention back to all three of them. "The Dark Lord is eager to give all of you the Dark Mark and have you officially respected for being on the right side of the war. In a few weeks time I will reveal your mission to you and you shall soon receive the Mark." He paused then continued, "I have asked you here because we will stop all communications through letters because the Dark Lord believes that Dumbledore will soon start to filter them."

After that they told him their Hogsmeade schedule and he told them which visit they would meet again. After that Lucius bade them farewell and they all departed, Bellatrix and Narcissa not saying anything to each other at all. Severus drank the Invisibility potion he had brought with him and put the bottle Lucius had prepared for him in his robes pockets.

* * *

On Monday in Potions class Samantha and Severus were silently making a healing potion for the Hospital Wing. The Halloween dance was to be this Saturday and already she was sick of her friends. All they talked about were what they were going to wear, how they were going to do their hair, and what shoes would or wouldn't match. Lily was obviously going with James, Annabel was going with Gregory and Alexis was going to go with a Hufflepuff boy named Louis Montgomery. They had hassled her to pick her outfit from now so that they could all compare dresses and shoes to see if one needed to borrow something from the other.

She was actually rather glad to be in class and not in the dormitory where all the other females were. She looked over at Snape, usually he always looked composed and far away but today he looked further away then usual. Maybe he was fussing over the dance too, she smiled to herself. _Not likely_.

She handed him the giant slug liver that she had cut up just a moment ago, "Are you taking anyone to the dance?" she asked.

The pair that was working in front of them turned quickly towards them with curious looks. She gave them a look of pure spleen.

Snape answered her without looking up from the cauldron, meaning he hadn't seen the stares. "No."

"Are you even going to the dance?" she asked. He answered a lot more questions when he was far away.

"No." he continued stirring then looked at her, "Actually, yes I am but I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"Too many questions, Cromwell." He reminded her. He was back from where ever he had gone.

* * *

The next day in Potions Severus watched as Cromwell scribbled on her parchment. She had been done for the past fifteen minutes and now she was doodling on a spare piece of parchment. He listened to someone whisper her name and watched with his head still over his parchment as she looked up at Lupin who sat three rows ahead of them. Lupin was waving at her like an idiot and she smiled and went back to doodling.

"Going to the dance with, Lupin?" he asked, made it sound disgusting.

She looked up, a bit surprised, "How did you know that?"

He heard it on Saturday while he stood in front of you without you seeing him. "It's sort of disgustingly obvious."

Samantha looked quickly over at Remus as he turned back to look at her again. _Oh no. He had said that it was just as friends._ "Oh no."

"What was that, Cromwell?" Severus asked.

"Nothing." She said.

"What don't like it when boys grovel over you?" he asked with emphasis on the word boys.

"Shut up, Snape. And no, I don't." she had to set things straight with Remus but she didn't want to hurt his feelings. But she could be wrong, so could Snape. She'll leave it alone until she was sure.

"Don't know why any girl would go out with him anyway." He said under his breath.

Samantha wasn't going to let him talk about her fried like that. "You don't even know him so you better stop right there."

"Don't know him? But I know what he is." Snape said it as if he meant something completely different then what she understood from what he was saying. "I can assure you that I know a lot more about him then you do."

Samantha looked into his deep black eyes and saw something flicker in them. He looked sort of haunted, sort of edgy and vigilant and of course angry on op of it all. She looked over at Remus and wondered if there was something about him that Snape would know about him that she didn't.

* * *

On Wednesday night Samantha's and Remus's Prefect duty had shifted and they were scheduled to patrol the first two floors of the dungeons. Nothing had changed between them since she had accepted his invitation to the Halloween dance and she was glad. They had sent to bed two Slytherin's they had found out in the corridors but it had seemed to be a quiet night. Until Severus Snape came stomping down the stairwell.

"Astrology class." He had muttered as he saw them.

"Do you have a note?" Remus asked.

Severus looked livid with the situation and as he opened his school bag to dig around mumbled, "Going to bite me if I don't?"

Remus had ignored it but Samantha wasn't going to. "What did you say, Snape?"

Snape stopped rummaging in his bag and locked his angry gaze with hers, "I simply asked if he was going to bite me if I didn't have one."

"You have some nerve, how could you complain about _them_ when you're exactly like them?" she shot at him.

"I am nothing like them, I have an actual reason for saying what I say to anyone of them." he looked back at Lupin, "And with him, I talk to him as if he were a dog, because that is…exactly…what…he…is." He ground out.

"You're a disgusting human being, Snape." She told him.

"Well, it's a good thing that I'm a Wizard." He said as he took a step closer to her.

"Your only half a Wizard." She said slowly regretting every word as they left her lips. She watched as slowly his eyes widened and then slowly narrowed to evil slits. His chest rose and fell much quicker then it had before and his jaw clenched so tight that his skin paled even more just like the skin over his clenched fists. But what made her regret it was the sudden sting she saw in his eyes, not the hatred, not the need for vengeance which were also there. "I didn't mean that." she said as Remus quickly stepped between them with his arms outstretched in front of him. "I'm sorry." She said from behind Remus and started to push at his back to get around to Snape.

When she finally had him back in her sight he looked almost normal again. "You are lucky that I would never strike a woman, Cromwell." With that he turned and stormed down the corridor to the Slytherin's dormitories. She was about to go after him but Remus stopped her by pulling on her robes.

"Let him go."

After her breathing came back to normal she looked up at Remus to find him watching her with interest. "I know that I am confrontational but I have never said something so…mean." She said and they started their journey back to the Gryffindor Common room.

"He had it coming to him." he said simply.

"But," she didn't know what to say, "but I sounded just like him. That wasn't me talking, it couldn't have been."

Remus looked her up and down, "Sometimes I wonder what exactly he has done to you." he said.

His statement confused her, she didn't know what he meant by it but she didn't ask him about it as they reached the Gryffindor common room.

**_AN: Halloween Dance is soon coming up!_**

**_Something will be stolen and something will be avenged._**


	8. A stolen kiss and an unpredicted hero

**_AN:- Its the Halloween Ball finally. We get to see different sides to Two of the boys....Ooo_**

_Chapter 8_

Samantha had tried to talk to Snape for the next two days but either he had hissed at her or ignored her completely. Finally she dropped it. She wasn't going to try to apologize to him when obviously he was fine with the way things were. Sirius had also been avoiding her. _Good_, she thought. She hoped that they both just left her alone for good then; she didn't need to surround herself with all that negative energy.

Suddenly it was Saturday the last day of October and the Halloween Dance was only a few short hours away. She and the girls were in their dormitories busily getting ready. Girls flocked from bedroom to bathroom with face products and hair gadgets. Samantha just lay on her bed staring at the ceiling.

Lily, Alexis, and Annabel had been watching her cautiously for the past few hours.

Alexis spoke first, "You've been groggy all day, Sam."

"More like angry at the world." Annabel said.

"He will lighten up, Sam. I don't know why you're so upset that he's avoiding you." Lily said giving her a curious look.

They didn't know the half of it…actually they only knew half of it. They were referring to Sirius but it was he _and_ Snape that were on her mind. "Yeah, I think I'm over it." she said as she got up and walked towards the wardrobe she and Lily shared. "So who said that they wanted to do my hair?" she asked and feigned a smile.

The looks on their faces were like the looks on children's face when they were being told that Santa would be coming tonight with presents. Originally she had told them that she was just going to leave it out but they had argued with her extensively saying things like she wasn't putting enough effort into the occasion or that she was just pushing it in their face that she had such gorgeous hair that she didn't have to do anything with and it would still look amazing.

About a half hour later she was gripping the chair arm to keep from reaching for her wand as Annabel and Lily were playing with her hair still.

"I only agreed to this because I thought that you were going to put my hair up in some elegant way – not sit there and play with it." she ground out.

"But it just does everything you ask it to." Annabel said excitedly.

"It's so lovely I don't know why you don't let it down more often." Lily mused.

Samantha was going to kill them. True she almost always had her hair in a ponytail but here they were harassing her to allow them to do it up elegantly and they were telling her that she should let it down more often. She got out of the chair and turned to them as they gave out a cry of protest. She grabbed the brush out of Annabel's hand ran it through her hair a few times and walked into the bedroom to put on her black dress.

Once she was done she stood in front of the mirror for a moment, taking in the way the black dress complimented her tanish skin and sort of liked the way her blond hair fell over her shoulders and down to the middle of her back.

* * *

She sat slouched in an arm chair waiting for this thing to finally start. She usually loved dances but today she wasn't in the mood to do anything but silently drone. She watched as the boys started to spill out of the boy's dormitory in their dress-robes. She spotted Sirius who didn't look her way but just left the common room to fetch his own date. _Arrogant ass_, she thought. She didn't know why he was still ignoring her; Ashley Dimple was a gorgeous girl and many boys were extremely jealous of him, just like many girls were now jealous of Ashley. He couldn't possibly still want to go out with her, she hadn't ever led him to think that she fancied him and to be honest she didn't think that she was the most gorgeous girl in school anyway.

"Hey." She turned to smile up at Remus, "You look great." He said as he eyed her black dress that fell just above her knees. "Usually it's the guy that waits for the girl in these situations." He laughed and held out a hand for her.

She laughed, "Sorry, I usually am all for tradition but I couldn't have stayed up there for another second." She informed him.

He laughed and they waited for the rest of the girls to come down.

"Blimey, you look hot, Lil." James said as he saw her. She sniffed haughtily but Samantha saw the smile she tried to hide.

Annabel's and Alexis' dates were waiting outside of the Gryffindor common room. They made their way down to the dance.

* * *

An hour earlier, Severus lay on his bed staring at the air above his bed while all the boys slipped into their expensive dress-robes and talking about how they might get lucky tonight. _Morons_. He hadn't planned on going tonight but Rodolphus and Bellatrix were forcing him. He also hadn't asked anyone so he was going alone and that suited him just fine. Rodolphus had tried to force him to accept a girl in the Fifth year but he had refused, he didn't need a date.

"Why aren't you dressed, Severus?" Rodolphus asked, straightening his tie.

Severus looked down at his usual school robes and gave a groan. "I don't see why I have to go to this."

"Because you are my friend and we do things together, now here." Rodolphus said as he threw Severus a pair of his own dress-robes. "Get dressed, and show some pride in yourself."

"I have pride in nothing but myself." Severus grumbled but told Rodolphus thanks with a nod which Rodolphus understood and nodded back. He admired Rodolphus for few things but his generosity and loyalty to friends was definitely one of them.

When he had finished changing he came back out of the bathroom and took up his post on his bed once more. Suddenly he was grabbed from behind and someone jumped onto his lap and started running a comb through his hair. "Hold him tighter, Mulciber." Rodolphus said as Severus started to struggle. "I said to show some pride in your self." He explained for his actions.

"I do." Severus growled and pushed them both back with an un-worded spell, they flew back, their bodies slamming into the wall as the walls and floor compressed slightly- anyone else would have been mad but they were impressed.

"You're getting stronger." Rodolphus said plainly as he ran his wand over his robes to smooth it back out again.

"I have always been strong." Severus spat back, his hair once more covering most of his face.

* * *

Samantha smiled and laughed as she danced with Remus. He had cheered her up considerably, making jokes about what some people where wearing, bumping into people on purpose on the dance floor. He hadn't lied when he had said he too was a good dancer.

All of the tables in the Great Hall had been removed and replaced by a few circular tables set off to the side of the dancing area. A long table the length of the stage area where the teachers usually sat was covered in many assorted finger foods and drinks. Samantha watched as some boys spiked their pumpkin juices or butter beers with something stronger.

All the teachers were dressed in some of their finest robes and gowns. Headmaster Dumbledore's robes were a bright blood red and he wore a matching wizard's hat.

Pettigrew and his Hufflepuff date were dancing on the other side of the room. James and Lily were dancing near to Remus and Samantha but Sirius and his date hadn't been seen yet. Alexis and her date sat at a table chatting heatedly. Alexis hadn't been pleased when she had finally accepted Montgomery's invitation but couldn't bear to be dateless. Annabel and Gregory were dancing in the middle of the dance floor, clinging to one another through songs that were slow and fast. They seemed to be in a world of their own and Samantha was happy for Annabel.

"Look at Lily and James." Samantha laughed as they sat down at a table near the dance floor. He did and laughed as well.

A slow song was playing currently and James had his head in the crook of Lily's neck and was plastered onto her like a second skin. Lily looked slightly uncomfortable but after a while softened into him and stoked his jet black hair out of her face.

"Would you like something to drink?" Remus asked her.

"I'll get this one, what would you like?" she asked. He didn't protest and asked for a butter beer.

On her way back to Remus Samantha spotted Snape leaning against the wall studying the floor. She had to pass him in order to get back to her table and let out a breath.

"Having fun?" she asked as she leaned against the wall next to him. This area was covered in shadows and she doubted if anyone one saw them together.

Snape looked at her, took in what she was wearing. She _was_ pretty he thought as he took in her long legs and slim waist. She had a descent sized bust and from the skin her dress showed she looked toned, not just slim. Her hair was out today like it was in the Owlery and it tumbled in sleek waves over her shoulders and back. And he wasn't the only one that noticed these things about her tonight. As she danced across the floor with the mutt many boys, from all the different houses had gazed at her with longing. They still were he discovered as he looked around at the people standing in the area in front of them. A few shot him disgusted glares before turning back to their dates.

"No, not really, Cromwell." He said.

"I haven't seen you dance with anybody." She stated as she watched Remus watching the crowd.

"I don't dance, Cromwell." When she remained quiet he quickly warned, "And don't you dare ask me to."

She snorted at that, "I wasn't going to."

He looked at the two drinks in her hand. "Run along to your date now."

"I think I will." She said as she leaned off of the wall.

"By the way, I think he would prefer a bowl." He added.

"Go to hell, Snape."

"Already on my way."

* * *

After excusing herself while Remus and James were busy chatting, Samantha headed outside and walked around the magically warmed garden to the side of the Great Hall. The weather was getting colder and duller the closer it got to winter and most of the trees had lost their green coloring. The silver light from the moon made everything glow, even her skin. She walked by many people kissing under the moon and friends chatting by the light coming from the Great Halls windows.

She was turning around to head back inside when she bumped into someone's chest. "Sorry." She mumbled as the person steadied her with fumbling hands. She looked up and gasped as she saw Sirius standing there, his eyes half open and some sort of alcohol stench to his lips.

"You," he accused. Then he smiled and hugged her close. "Sa-ham, why don't you juzz give me a chance?" he mumbled in her hair.

"Sirius maybe we should head back inside." She offered as she noticed no one else was around this part of the garden.

"Will you dance wizz me?" he asked.

Wanting to just go back inside and not be alone with him when he was drunk she said, "Okay. We can have one dance when we get back inside."

"No." he said as he wrapped his arms around her, "Lezz dance here." He started to jarringly sway with her.

She didn't like this one bit and her anger at him being foolish enough to get so drunk was starting to rise. "Sirius, I mean it. Let's go back inside." She said, determined.

He suddenly pushed her away from him and she ended up on the floor. "You love him don't you?!" he yelled at her. "Why don't you like me?"

She didn't want to feel guilty so she pushed it aside and stood up again. "I don't Sirius."

His eyes darkened and he took a step closer to her. "You don't love me?" he asked again.

That's not what she had meant but she tried to reason with him, "Sirius, please. You don't even love me." She tried to get around him but he grabbed her by her upper arm and squeezed.

"You don't know that." He said as he quickly lowered his lips her lips and crushed her to him. She struggled and hated that she couldn't get out of his grasp. She pulled her head away but he just raised a hand to hold her still. It was just a kiss but it was a stolen kiss and she wasn't having any of it. She slammed her foot down on his and tried to wrench her hand out of his but he still wouldn't let go. His grip tightened impossibly more as he started to shake her and stare at her with rage.

"Sirius, let go, you're hurting me." She wouldn't have said it if he weren't hurting her. Her arm was now numb and traitorous angry tears were slowly gathering in her eyes. She blinked them away, not going to show him that she was slightly scared. She looked up and he must have finally understood what he was doing because he dropped his hand and took a step back, horror on his face.

She rubbed her hand over the imprint of his grasp and glared at him. Sorrow and guilt spread over his face and he was about to say something as he stepped forward but she slapped him across his face with her good arm.

He stood there shocked but didn't make a move towards her again.

"Don't you ever touch me again, Black." she said calmly through clenched teeth when all she wanted to do was hit him again and yell at him. She turned and hurried away.

* * *

Severus was leaning against a wall in the corridor outside of the Great Hall, to be away from the noise and his friends, as someone kicked open the doors of the Great Hall. He turned his head to see Cromwell storm out of the temporary dance room, her heels clicking on the stone ground, her right arm cradled to her body by the left hand. He didn't move towards her but he did wonder at what clumsy accident she had fallen victim to this time.

* * *

Samantha had ignored Sirius' advances to apologize – not ready to face him yet. He had actually physically hurt her. Sure he had been drunk and he was trying to apologize for it but it didn't change the large ugly bruise that was now on her upper arm. She made sure to keep her robes covering it.

Remus and her friends had asked her why she had made such an abrupt exist that night but she just blamed it on flu. She was going to tell them she told herself but maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to do so.

* * *

Monday morning Severus found him self looking at how slowly Samantha wrote when usually she wrote much faster. This reminded him of Saturday night. Interested he reached out and touched her arm and frowned as she winched but looked at him. He reached out again and before she could stop him he drew back her robe's sleeve and saw a nasty bruise wrapped around her upper arm that looked suspiciously like a hand mark.

She jerked her hand away and recovered it as she gave him a troubled look. "Don't touch me, Snape."

"What happened to your arm?" He demanded.

She looked down at her covered arm and he knew she was about to lie. "I slammed it in a door."

Yes, a lie, "That's pretty hard to do, especially hard enough for a bruise like that."

"I bruise easily."

"What really happened?"

She looked down at her paper and whispered, "Nothing, it was just and accident."

Someone had done it to her and from the looks of the bruise it was hardly an accident. "I noticed you hadn't left the dance with Lupin on Saturday." He said with purpose.

Her worried eyes shot to his face, "It was not him, and he wouldn't hurt me, don't you dare accuse him of something like that."

From the fierceness in her eyes he knew that it wasn't the dog, "But it was someone." Anger suddenly rose up in him as he said it and it finally sunk in. Someone, some boy had hurt her, a girl. Men that physically hurt women were nothing but cowards who needed to be taught lessons.

"It was an accident." She whispered again.

"Just tell me." He pushed. "Was it Black?" The only reason he thought of Black was because he knew that Black liked her – and that bruise must have been given in a time of passion - while Potter was to in love with Lily and Pettigrew was a wimp.

She knew that he knew that it was Sirius from the expression on her face. She watched as he turned his gaze to the front of the class where Sirius sat obliviously writing his essay. She watched as rage colored Snape's features and made him look even more dangerous. "It was an accident, he was drunk he didn't know what he was doing." She watched as his jaw clenched and unclenched, "Why do you even care?" she asked as she watched him withdraw his wand and as she hesitated he whispered something and a loud slam came from the front of the room.

Students gasped and some people muffled their laughter as she turned to see Sirius with his head on the desk. After a moment he rose up and looked to the back of the class at her horrified face and Snape's livid one. Samantha gasped as blood dripped from a cut on Sirius' forehead and she turned to snatch Snape's wand out of his hand and put it quickly in her lap.

Professor Slughorn was also staring at Sirius. He followed his gaze to the back of the room and asked suspiciously, "What is going on here?"

Sirius looked up at the Professor. He wiped a hand over the blood from his forehead and said, "Nothing sir, I must have fallen asleep too eagerly."

Some more people laughed while the Professor snorted. Sirius stared down again at his paper and James gave Samantha a raised brow as he turned to whisper to Sirius.

"What have you done?" she whispered to Snape who had started to write again.

* * *

Samantha ran after Care of Magical Creatures to lunch to catch up with the Marauders and their proposed victim, but she had lost them on the way. She had thought they would at least have gone to lunch first but she guessed that neither side needed the energy, but they weren't in the Great Hall so she headed back outside. She was breathless as her eyes scanned the whole of the grounds and she finally spotted the four of them cornering Snape. There were already many people out in the grounds huddled under trees and laughing with friends. They turned their heads as she ran by them and Potter made the first verbal move.

"Hey, Snivellus, want to tell me why you attacked my mate earlier?" Potter yelled the demand and drew even more attention to the escapade.

She wanted Snape to keep walking but she watched as he turned around and faced them.

"Is it going to speak? Or should we beat a confession out of it?" Pettigrew asked, delighted.

"Come to fight me, Black? Is it just me against you and Potter or me against all four of you again?" Snape sneered.

Samantha had almost reached them, "Stop this right now."

"Stay out of this, Samantha." Snape and Sirius said at the same time.

"Don't talk to her, Snivellus." Sirius said as he withdrew his wand and Snape reached for his own at the same time. Snape had his out before Sirius but wasn't pointing it at him as he crouched. "Don't you dare say her name, Snape. And I could take you myself if I wanted to, you greasy git."

"Oh, I mustn't say her name, Black? Are you that possessive of her?" Snape shot at him. They started to walk back and forwards, Sirius keeping his angry eyes on Snape and Snape keeping his eyes on all four of them.

"Just back off Snape. You made the first move here." Lupin said.

Snape stopped his gaze on Lupin, "Did I make the first move? I was only giving him what he deserved for being such a coward."

"Don't." Samantha said quietly but she knew he heard her. She didn't want him to do this, she could handle Sirius.

"What are you talking about, Snape?" Sirius asked.

Snape was disgusted; Black couldn't even add it up. Did forget about his actions so easily? She had said that he had been drunk but honestly how drunk do you have to be to be so stupid?

"Let's just slim the freak and be done with it." Potter said.

"He's got way more up his sleeve then you do Sirius." Remus warned.

"Listen to your goons, Black." Snape taunted.

Many things happened at the same time after that. Sirius had jumped forward his wand pointing at Snape as he yelled, 'Stupefy!' Snape however had said calmly, 'Finite Incantatem.' at the same time and Sirius' spell hit the ground uselessly. Potter had yelled, 'Expelliarmus!' a second later and Snape's wand flew into his hand. Samantha, mad as hell yelled, 'Expelliarmus.' as well and all five of their wands, including Snape's flew into her hand. But Sirius already had Snape pinned to the ground as she moved forward. Remus stepped between her and the two boys rolling on the ground hitting each other.

"Get out of my way, Remus." She warned him. He looked back at the wands she had left on the ground and the wand in her pocket that she hadn't even withdrawn yet and stepped aside. Snape was now over Sirius trying to get Sirius' hands from around his throat. "Stop it." she yelled.

Sirius fought and again had Snape under him when Snape muttered something under his breath that threw Sirius off of him but not before Sirius got in one more punch to Snape's eye.

Samantha sat next to Snape and glared at Sirius who glared back at her, "Just back off, Sam." He warned her.

"Or what, Black? Are you going to hit her again?" Snape asked in a whisper.

Only Samantha's girlfriends, who she hadn't realized had ran after her, and the Marauders heard what he said and they all remained silent watching Snape.

"What did he say?" Alexis said and they all looked back at Sirius.

"What's he talking about, James?" Lily asked but James was just as confused as the rest of them.

Annabel looked like she wanted to cry.

"He's probably making some sick joke." James said, disgusted.

Everyone turned to watch Sirius' face fall, except Samantha who looked down at the blood coming from the side of Snape's face.

Severus watched as Sirius looked up at his friends from the ground. He looked horrified and completely out of his element.

Sirius looked at Samantha, "I thought that all I did was push you around a little."

Lily and Annabel gasped.

Alexis turned a horrified face to him, "You did what?"

"Sirius." Potter said in question.

"Samantha, talk to me. I didn't really hurt you did I?" he sounded genuinely horrified.

Samantha didn't look at him as she said, "I know it was an accident."

"Accident?" Snape said as he reached forward and pulled up her robe sleeve. She tried to stop him but it was too late as she heard the collected gasp from the people around them, even Sirius was outraged. She looked into Snape's eyes as she told them it was okay. He looked back at her with an empty expression and disinterested face.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Professor McGonagall demanded as she came upon them.

* * *

A few minutes later everyone sat in Professor McGonagall office as she went to get Professor Slughorn.

"Sirius how could you do something like that?" Remus demanded.

Sirius just apologized to Samantha again holding a hand to his broken nose as blood seeped into his white undershirt.

"You really are a coward, she's you friend you bastard." Alexis said, her heart slightly broken.

Sirius tried again to get Samantha's attention.

"And to think that Snape would be the one to let us know about it." Annabel said, befuddled.

"I'm curious as to why he acted so strongly." James accused.

Remus slapped him over the head, "Everyone agrees that a man laying a hand on a woman is wrong no matter what house you are in."

Sirius tried to apologize again.

"Just stop, the lot of you." Samantha had had enough. "I didn't tell any of you because it was genuinely an accident. He was drunk and that was careless, but I also hit him that night. And Sirius I would have forgiven you anyway but I want to forgive you right now so that you shut the hell up. Now I would like us all to leave this behind us and as long as Sirius just leaves me alone from now on and stops drinking to that extent I don't think that we have to tell the Professors about it."

"I think we should. I deserve it." Sirius grumbled.

"Indeed." Snape agreed.

Samantha gave Snape a death stare before turning back to Sirius and saying, "Look, you're my friend, obviously you think you like me and I don't have the same feelings for you. You dealt with it badly but I forgive you. I honestly do."

Sirius looked up at her and said it one last time, "I'm really sorry."

**_AN:- I hope that you have enjoyed the story so far._**

**_i hope that people are still reading._**

**_And you all didn't expect them to fall head over heels for each other this early on right?_**

**_Nope...just confused feelings, miscommunications and just plain old grouchy Snape._**

**_Oh and Remember to Review...ITS IN THE CONTRACT!!!_**


	9. The tasks and proposals

_**AN: - I agree that the last chapter seemed completely rushed and I can see why you thought I put emphasis on the Halloween dance. I'm trying to make it run smoothly but…but….I can't wait until until I get futher along!! Sorry to those a bit disappointed about the rushed chapter though :(**_

**_I hope people are still reading and liking it._**

_Chapter 9_

"Look at your eye Snape." Bellatrix pointed out with disgust.

"Look at Black's face." Severus shot back at her. His friends had been pleased when they found out about the damage he had caused between the Marauders. There was a certain tension between the group now and Lupin refused to talk to Black. Sirius had come out of the brawl with a broken nose, a black eye and a loss of respect from his friends, whereas Severus just had a black eye – but that was enough to set Bellatrix off.

They lot of them had gotten off with only a minimum of house points taken away for the scene they had caused, obviously more from Gryffindor then Slytherin. Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn had reprimanded them on not behaving in the manner that students in their last year of school should behave. Black, though still slightly traumatized had shot him suspicious and angry glances, as had Potter.

"You should not have allowed him a hit." She hissed.

"What did you expect me to do?" he hissed back, "If I had used what I know then I would have been expelled Bella and they would have caught onto what we are doing."

"Where's your pride? You should have - " she started.

"Bella." Rodolphus said in warning, "In this, Severus is correct. It would have displeased the Dark Lord if Severus had everyone know what he is capable of. We practice in secret, don't allow anyone to know."

"I hate all this hiding." She ripped at her hair, "I can't stand the waiting."

"Think of how happy the Dark Lord will be when we succeed in whatever plans He has for us at Hogwarts." Rodolphus cooed.

That seemed to calm her down. The hatred and rage left her eyes and she looked normal again. "I can't wait until He finally has something for us to prove to him."

Snape was starting to think that his friends were a bit crazier then he had originally thought. But couldn't dwell on the thought as Belatrix asked, "Why did you react to Sirius hurting that girl anyway, Severus?" her voice was filled with suspicion and disgust. "If anything, I find it rather amusing."

Severus answered quickly, "We don't all share the same humor, Bellatrix."

"If I didn't know you, I'd say that you actually cared what happened to Gryffindor bitch." She said looking down her aristocrat nose at him.

He could feel Rodolphus look up from whatever he was reading to star expectantly at him. "Don't be ridiculous, Bellatrix." Severus said in a cold tone as he narrowed his eyes at her. He left it at that, not wanting to get into a complicated argument.

* * *

In Transfiguration the next day the class was working on perfecting their skill in more advanced Switching Spells, where the objects they were working with were held in different rooms of the castle. Samantha's partner was Lily and Remus's was Sirius though he didn't look too pleased to be. That morning had been filled with quiet tension and awkwardness. Samantha had found herself wanting to say something to Sirius to make him feel less guilty but had always ended up doing nothing. It also seemed that he was holding back things that he wanted to tell her and the conclusion of all this was that neither was talking to the other and the conclusion of that was none of their friends were talking to either of them. No one knew what to say, so no one said anything.

Samantha and Remus had stayed behind in the Transfiguration classroom as Professor McGonagall took their partners into another wing of the castle. She looked over at Remus but he wasn't looking at her. A few moments later the Professor had popped back in and told them to begin with their spells of switching larger objects for smaller objects they knew their partners had.

Samantha was doing fine, swiftly thinking of one of the items she knew Lily to have and summoning it on her desk as some objects she possessed started disappearing from her desk. That was until all of her objects and her desk disappeared from in front of her. She looked down, confused – _Had Lilly meant to take the whole table?_ – but then she heard laugher coming from the back of the room. She turned to see Bellatrix with her table next to her own table. Snape was Bellatrix's partner and was in the other wing of the castle.

"Give it back, Bellatrix." She warned.

Bellatrix laughed her crazed laugh and threw one of Samantha's objects back at her with enough force to bring pain in Samantha's palm as she caught it. "But Gryffindor, Severus wouldn't avenge me for you." she laughed. "I heard that you let a puny Gryffindor boy lay his hand on you." Bellatrix said shaking her head sadly. "I always said the real men were in Slytherin, they know to never mess with women but then again the _girls_ in Gryffindor can't handle their _boys, _now can they?."

"Because Slytherin boys are to busy scared of you Slytherin girls with your cold hearts and cruel intentions." Samantha shot back.

Something snapped in Bellatrix's eyes as her smile immediately vanished from across her skeleton pale face but she asked, "Can I see your wound?"

Before Samantha had even thought about raising her wand Bellatrix had hers out and Samantha's robe was sliding up her arm to reveal the bruise. "Oh, so pretty." Bellatrix said her smile widening.

_She had done that extremely fast_, Samantha thought and just stared at Bellatrix in anger and awe.

"Stop this right now, Bellatrix." Remus warned.

She probably wouldn't have stopped for him but just then Professor McGonagall swept back into the room to conclude the class and Samantha's table and objects reappeared in front of her.

* * *

In Potions that Wednesday Samantha sat next to Snape and waited for the room to be busy working before turning and looking at him. He was busy scribbling on his parchment not paying attention to her. She frowned as she saw the slightly purplish bruise around his eye. Sirius had gone to Madam Pomfrey to magically heal his broken nose, scratches and bruises more quickly.

She tried to look at him - really look at him, to see or learn anything new but he was the same boy who was rude and spiteful to everyone. So why would someone like him ever want to protect someone like her? She supposed that what Remus had said was true, that any man, doesn't matter what house he was in, thought the same thing about hitting women. She tried to think of Rodolphus coming to her rescue if she were ever attacked by a man again. She highly doubted that. She reached out and touched the corner of his eye lightly before realizing what she was doing.

His hand stilled over his parchment and he shifted his face away from her, looking at her sideways with an annoyed expression.

She whispered, "I don't know why you did what you did, but thank you I guess."

_Was she thanking me for beating up one of her friends?_ He was actually surprised but coolly replied, "It was a good excuse to hurt Black and don't start thinking that I did it for you."

She was quiet for a moment. Of course he would say something like that but either way she was still grateful. If he hadn't have done anything she wondered if she would have actually told her friends or that Sirius would have known what he had actually done.

"Thank you anyway." She whispered.

Severus stared at his parchment but didn't continue writing. He hadn't done it for her; he had done it for himself. But as he pictured how the scene between Cromwell and Black might have transpired he found himself unsure if he had done it purely for himself. Shaking his head he banished the thought, it was probably Bellatrix's suspicion playing into his own. He didn't care, she was just a girl that got hurt by a guy and that isn't tolerable.

* * *

Thursday night Severus was on his back sprawled upon the cold stone dungeon ground. "Stupify!" he yelled as he pointed his wand at Bellatrix's chest. She froze in mid-cast, her mouth open and her wand aiming and fell to the floor.

"She's getting really good." Rodolphus stated as he moved forward and knelt beside her still body. He took a flask out oh his robe pocket and proceeded to waving it under her nostrils, allowing the gas inside to bring her back around.

"Indeed, she is." Severus agreed as he got up from the ground and shook out his robes. He pulled back the sleeve of his robes and studied to deep slash in his flesh. He to, took a flask out of his robe pocket but his contained a liquid not a gas. "Poor Mulciber over there is not improving however." He said with pure disgust in his tone. They both looked over at the boy laying on his stomach groaning and heaving, blood seeping along the groves in the stone ground around him.

"No," Rodolphus agreed, his steel eyes narrowing, "he isn't. Pass him the salve, his pain today has been enough for now."

Snape levitated the flask over to Mulciber's quivering side so that he could heal himself. Since they were practicing spells that they could be expelled for casting in school grounds – some even worthy of time in Azkaban – they had to treat their own injuries. Severus, the Potions Master, was in charge of creating healing drafts.

They had begun meeting like this, in a classroom in the dungeons that hadn't been used in decades, obvious from the date written on the chalkboard, to practice dueling and the tasks that Lucius had given to them at the start of summer holidays. This night they had begun with Bellatrix and Mulciber dueling. In the beginning it had been a fair fight as they had both fought at the same amateur level. Of course they had seen the Dark Art spells performed by parents or had at least heard of them from their parents but neither had ever performed them. Rodolphus' family and the people he surrounded himself with had made sure that he was at least taught the basics, knowing that he would one day join them. And Severus…Severus had had no one to teach him of how to cast a Dark Spell or the thoughts and complicated wand movements that go along with it. All he had had was the occasional quiet night or lone days in the woods near his parent's house when he would submerge himself in illegal books. The three of them kept saying that he was a natural but wasn't, he worked his ass off to get as good as he was now. When he and Rodolphus dueled it was an intense exchange, a month ago they had stopped dueling each other because one day one might actually have to fall and the fall would be death.

"How was I, Rodolphus?" Bellatrix asked as she came to and pushed herself off of the floor.

"Good, but you have a long way to go." He informed her.

She narrowed her eyes but didn't retort, for she knew that it was true. "If only we were in a real duel with people our Lord deemed unnecessary to live." She mused.

Severus snorted.

She shot her black eyes at him daring him to say anything.

"Soon, my love." Rodolphus cooed as he pulled her to her feet. Severus watched as Bellatrix grabbed onto Rodolphus' shirt and tie and Rodolphus crushed his lips to hers. It looked rather revolting, their teeth gripping at each other, their arms wrestling.

Severus got his backpack and was ready to leave when Rodolphus called him back. "Aren't you going to practice tonight?"

Severus gave him an uninterested look, "I'm tired of just seeing your fantasies and memories of you and Bellatrix… in a love embrace."

Rodolphus grinned.

"What are you saying?" Bellatrix asked, her eyes narrowing.

Rodolphus cut in, "Well you have certainly broken through all of our barriers." He looked thoughtful for a moment and continued, "However, perhaps you should start practicing using it on some other students. I have already started tampering with Hufflepuffs."

Severus narrowed his eyes at Rodolphus, "Your performing memory charms on Hufflepuffs?"

"Yes." Rodolphus said simply, "Only simple altering, of course." He and Bellatrix picked up their bags. The first day back at school they had all sat in the Slytherin Common room and exchanged what their different tasks where. Bellatrix and Mulciber had to become expert duelers and Rodolphus had to perfect memory charms, by altering, deleting or planting new ones.

"I suppose I might as well." Severus said as he and the couple left the forgotten classroom, leaving behind Mulciber still groaning on the ground.

Lucius had delegated information to them from Lord Voldemort through owls. Severus remembered when he had first gotten his at the beginning of the past summer. The lethal looking black owl had had a letter from Lucius and a package containing illegal books wrapped in black material tied to its foot. The letter had said that his task was to master Legilimency. At first it was a daunting task because it was something that you either could do or couldn't do but Lucius had written that the Dark Lord had faith in his ability. Not wanting to fail and always up for new challenges he dedicated the summer to reading and studying everything in the books. In side the last book of the stack he had found parchments with notes on the books and how to better the Legilimency technique, signed Tom Riddle, alias Lord Voldemort. Severus hadn't shown his friends these.

Severus hadn't been able to practice performing the spell however until returning to school. For one thing he would never want to see what lay in his parents minds and he didn't really see or talk to anyone when he was at home…no at Spinners End.

* * *

"You sure you don't want to come?" Alexis asked again.

"No, you go ahead; I think that I will finish that Herbology essay I had been putting off." Samantha told Alexis and Annabel. It was yet again another Hogsmeade trip and though the tension between her, her friends and the boys had eased, Sirius was still keeping his distance. She wasn't in the mood for their friends to try to force them to talk to each other and therefore wasn't going to join them today.

It was a cold day, the snow about three feet deep on the grounds. Samantha loved to look at the grounds as it snowed but felt completely different about being in it. As she headed towards the library her mind was buzzing with thoughts of the Herbology essay that was due on Monday.

She entered the Library threshold and headed straight for the aisle that she thought the book she needed would be and about five minutes later sat down at a table four aisles away from Snape. _Had he been there the whole time? _She wondered as she recalled talking to herself as she searched for the book. She hadn't noticed that anyone had been in the room when she had entered.

She quickly started reading when she realized that she was staring at him.

She had started writing the essay on the importance of a root, she couldn't pronounce or spell without looking it up, in medicine but the silence was annoying her. She looked up to see that he hadn't moved and as usual became annoyed with him. He didn't do anything, he never talked to her, he never made noise, he never does anything. And it wasn't just with her. Outside of those three buffoons in his house he doesn't do anything with anyone.

She got up from her seat.

* * *

Snape groaned inside as he felt her stalking towards the table he sat at. He had felt her staring at him the whole time, heard her restless shuffling and prayed that she would just leave him alone. He had considered leaving the Library when she had first entered but forced himself to think that she would leave as soon as she found what she was looking for. He had always thought that she was crazy but when he had heard the soft mumbling, it confirmed his thoughts - she even _answered_ her rhetorical questions.

The legs of chair in front of him scraped against the ground as she moved it to sit.

Moments passed and her annoying inquisitive voice hadn't come. Without moving his head he lifted his eyes to see that she was busy reading an ancient book and scribbling on a piece of parchment. Her brows were furrowed, yet she had a sort of dreamy look on her face that made her look rather confused.

"Shouldn't you be in Hogsmeade with your _friends_?" he asked.

Samantha looked up, but he wasn't looking at her. His nose was still just a few inches above the book he was reading. "Well, I don't want my _friends_ to force Sirius to talk to me so I decided to stay at the castle." she said and looked back down at the book.

"Still friends with him after he hurt you?" the question had no emotion in it, it was bland but he was slightly disgusted for no other reason then knowing it was true that she still would be.

"Of course, we have been friends since Second year. He didn't mean it. He isn't a woman abuser, he was in a bad place and I happened to have been there." She was looking at him as if she didn't understand why it was something he couldn't comprehend.

"What if he had meant it?" Severus asked.

"Well if he intentionally hurt me, he would have looked like he did after you got through with him, but from my hands." she said and he could tell that she wasn't jesting. With a haughty sniff she continued to write.

Snape finished the last page of the chapter. When he was finished he turned to the next chapter but looked up at her again. Her foot long parchment was half covered and he noticed that it was the Herbology essay they had been assigned yesterday in Friday's class. He had finished his own last night, not wanting to waste time forgetting about it.

He was half way through reading his second chapter when he heard Samantha give a satisfied sigh and looked up to watch her lean back in her chair with her arms folded behind her head and her eyes closed. _Elegant_, he thought.

"Finally." She muttered and rolled her neck round to shake out the kinks.

He turned back to his book.

Samantha squinted her eyes and turned her head in odd angles to try and read what was on the pages of the book in front of Snape. What were on the aged parchment were odd combinations of potions and spells, she didn't nor did she want to know of what he was reading.

When he was on the last page of the chapter she asked, "Are you going to read the next chapter?"

Startled Severus looked up at her.

_Had he forgotten she was there?_ she wondered at the look on his face as he looked upon her.

Severus looked back down at the sheet and shook his head, "Gryffindor, you waste my time with you inquisitiveness."

"And you waste mine with not answering my questions." She told him.

He gave a frustrated sigh, "If you must know, no, this is the last chapter I will be reading for the day." With that he finished the chapter.

"What are you going to do now?" Samantha asked as he closed the book. It really was an old one she decided as dust shot out from between the pages when it fell together. She peered at the spine and cover of the book but there was no Title or Author name to be seen.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well, I was thinking," she began but then paused and looked away from him, not knowing what to continue with because she hadn't been thinking anything. But her mind continued - _You're a Gryffindor be brave_. "Um…well I was just thinking that maybe…" Her mind was fighting with her mouth and she realized that he could see that it was from the sort of painful, annoyed, suspicious expression on is face. _Oh Merlin, don't blush at a time like this! You don't blush._ _Especially not because of being embarrassed in front of __**him**_. "Never mind." She concluded hastily.

He was about to say something about her being ridiculous when she said something ridiculous.

Realizing what she had wanted to ask she said, "Maybe we could do something together?" That hadn't been difficult and she quietly ridiculed herself for being embarrassed about asking such a thing of him in the first place. If he said no, that was fine, she wasn't desperate or sinister enough to care if he spat on the ground she walked on. She smiled when she thought of what her mother had told her about doing just that was a sign of wishing someone good luck or blessing them in Greek. And if he did agree to it then, great, she would probably have a horrid time anyway.

He stared at her, had her cheeks been that faint pink when she had entered or was she blushing? But for what reason he had no idea. He frowned; she had looked uncomfortable as she had rambled. And now as the color vanished from her determined yet cool face he thought about what she had proposed and his frown deepened.

"You do know that your face will be stuck like that permanently one day." Samantha pointed out, smiling.

"Indeed." He said slowly, and in response to her first query, "Cromwell, you disgust me, when will you realize that you and I can't tolerate each other?" he asked her, a disapproving look to his face.

"Well, lately I don't find you that bad to be honest." She said.

"What a delighted declaration of toleration." He said sarcastically. This was probably some sort of female gratitude ritual he had not patience endure.

"Oh, come on. You have to admit that comparing our current….um…attitudes towards each other with how we responded to each other two months ago, we have come far." She said, and groaned at the disorientated look on his face.

"Gryffindor, you are starting to act like a Hufflepuff and it's not very becoming, just to warn you." he got up from his seat.

She got up as well. "I'm not suggesting that we become friends, Snape. I just thought that…" she didn't know what she had thought if it wasn't about friendship. "Well, okay I haven't got a clue." She had to jog to keep up with him as he strode out of the Library and down the hall. "It's just that….why not?"

He stopped then and turned to look down at her. He hadn't realized till then that he had never really thought about how tall she was. Of course he didn't care if she was nearly his height, just about four inches shorter than him but at this moment it seemed like an important feature. "Cromwell, when you say 'Why not?' you aren't asking for _a reason_ why we can't be friends are you?"

Samantha looked down at the floor. She wanted to stop; her pride and frustration – the Gryffindor inside of her confronting the Slytherin in front of her – wanted to stop. But she kept talking. "Well, what if that is exactly what I meant?"

Severus laughed, this was ridiculous. A Gryffindor and a Slytherin becoming friends? Never had he heard of such a thing in all his time at Hogwarts. And why would he even consider amusing her thoughts? She really was sounding like a Hufflepuff, wanting to be friends with everyone, wanting to trust and be trusted by everyone, to get along and live in peace. It was outrageous.

"Remember that note we passed to each other that first week in Potions class?" he didn't wait to see if she did, "That is exactly why. I am exactly all of those qualities you had mentioned and you all those I had mentioned. Such a union is not compatible and that is just the obvious. Why would I want to waste my time with someone like you?"

Of course anger rose up in her but she pushed it back, "What do you mean by _someone like me_?"

"You're a prissy little Gryffindor princess, Cromwell, incase you haven't noticed. Your-"

"I am not." She cut in, her hands flying to her waist.

"You show more arrogance than I could ever muster for myself, you're annoying, lets face it your not very bright and you think what people think of you is the most important thing. You truly do hold all of the characteristics of a Gryffindor-"

"I'm assuming you don't mean that as a compliment."

"Not in the least." He confirmed. He looked at the fists she held hard against her waist and wondered if she would hit him again.

"Well, let me tell you something, Snape." She said raising a hand to point at his chest. He stared at the hand. "You're delusional."

Snape waited for her to continue but when she didn't he laughed, "Is that all?"

Taken aback by the humor on his face she stuttered, "Ugh…well um no. All that you just referred to me as is completely ridiculous. I am not arrogant, I might be confident but arrogant I am not. I'm not hardly as annoying as you can be sometimes," he snorted, "and I do not care about everything that people think about me, actually I don't think I care what people think at all. As for me not being bright, I get better grades then you do in Transfiguration!" she left out a breath and said, "And I am not prissy!"

"I guess we shall have to agree to disagree." He said and turned back around.

"Everything you said back there was what you think of Gryffindors, not what you think about me." she said as she followed him down the stairs.

"You _are_ a Gryffindor, Cromwell and don't think that you can tell me what I think about you." he said in warning.

"You know that what you just described _us Gryffindors_ as is exactly what most of _us_ think about _you Slytherins_? In addition to other thoughts."

They were on the first floor now and he turned on her. She had been walking right behind him and since they were walking so fast, when he had suddenly stopped, she hit into his chest and stumbled back.

"Are you going to follow me around the whole school, Cromwell?" he demanded, his eyes wide.

Samantha didn't answer right away. She had never thought that his body would be that hard, it was like hitting a wall as she had walked into him. He wasn't as skinny as she had imagined but he hadn't been soft either.

At the impatient look on his face as he watched her she quickly answered, "I guess. I thought that we had agreed to do something together."

**_Remember...Review!!_**

**_If you truly love me you would..._**


	10. Petty War

**_AN:- Whoo - Havn't posted a chapter in foorreeever, sorry :(..._**

_Chapter 10_

Samantha stared at the stone wall that had closed in her face not but two seconds earlier. He had led her straight to the Slytherin Dungeons, arguing the entire way down, saying rude and, not that she would admit it, on the verge of hurtful things. As she retorted, yelled and tried to reason with him he had whispered the password to the wall and quickly slipped inside. She was still talking when the wall reappeared in front of her.

Samantha sighed and headed back up the cold stone cellar corridors towards the stairs. It was pointless trying to get anything from him. It was pointless trying to make him change his mind about her. And honestly she didn't understand why she wanted to do so in the first place. Maybe she did have some sort of Hufflepuff qualities in herself, but was that such a bad thing? If anything, she was doing this to help him, _she had friends_. What was strange was that she realized that the ruder and more aggressive he got to her advances the stronger the feeling inside her got to do something to change his mind about her. Of course she could never see them being close friends ever, but she wanted to know…well maybe not know him but know something…maybe she did want to know him. Even if she did there was nothing wrong with that. It was like coming across a wild animal – you know its stupid and you shouldn't but you want to get a closer look.

A crash ahead brought her back to the dark cold corridor. She was almost at the stairs that would lead her back to the second floor. She heard a high-pitched male giggle and knew at once that it was Peeves up ahead. She groaned as she slowed her pace, but smiled mischievously as she rounded the corner to where the poltergeist sat atop the statue of a famous past wizard, drawing breasts and a mustache on its stone body.

As he became aware of her presence a miscivious smile spread across his slightly transparent face and he started singing, "Samz and Ziriuz, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love then comes a slap, Ta-ha-ha-ha."

"Peeves." she groaned, and her anger at Snape suddenly multiplied. "Oh, funny running into you after what I just heard." She took a few steps towards him.

Students at the school usually only yelled at him or ignored him so he looked up suspiciously at her calm tone, "What is it that the victim has heard?" he asked, drawing his head closer to her as if to hear her better.

"Oh its nothing, I know it's not true." She said as she passed him, "I thought that everyone thought that you were the best prankster in Hogwarts. There's not one person you haven't brought chaos to, is there?"

"Nopes. I have had fun with every ickle student in diz school." He said as he picked up another ink bottle, "No onez iz safe!"

Before he threw it at her she quickly said, "Except for Severus Snape though right?"

He stopped mid-swing, "What's that?" he snapped curiously.

"Except for Severus Snape, he has said that you have never done anything to him before." She said in great doubt.

"Oh really?" Peeves rubbed his head with his hand, "Has he forgotten the spoilt pumpkin juice his first year? Or has he forgotten the slugs that same year for Christmas? Or…" he slid off of the statue and hovered past her.

Samantha watched him leave, he was heading in the direction she had come, still mumbling things he had done to Snape then saying something about the Bloody Baron could shove it. Samantha laughed, feeling as though she had accomplished something and skipped up the stairs two at a time.

* * *

Samantha was sitting on her four-poster bed reading one of her mother's old romance books as Lily, Annabel and Alexis entered the Gryffindor girl's dormitory.

"I can't believe him!" Lily yelled.

Putting her book down she looked up at her three friends, Lily looked livid, Annabel and Alexis just shrugged when she looked at them for an explanation, but of course it would have had to have been something to do with James Potter.

Lily flopped down on Samantha's bed, "Why didn't you come to Hogsmeade today, Sam?"

"I just didn't feel like it, besides I had to finish that Herbology essay." She stroked Lily's red hair out on the bed spread and falsely groaned, "What did he do now?"

Lily gave her a look as if wondering why Samantha couldn't read it on her face, "He tried to kiss me today. In front of everybody!" she sat up and rubbed a hand through her hair leaving it frizzy and disheveled. "I thought that he was genuinely starting to be nice and courteous, he actually asked me interesting questions and actually listened to what I had to say. Then as I was answering his question on what I truly thought of the current Minister of Magic he forced himself on me!"

As Lily had been telling Samantha this, Alexis and Annabel were hiding giggles and crazy looks behind her back. Samantha tried to hide her own smile.

"Anyway forget about him." Lily said coolly and as she turned around the two girls straightened their backs and faces, their eyes going innocently wide. She scowled at them, "I know your laughing behind my back you traitors." They were about to respond but Lilly continued, "You know, Justin McGraw is interested in you, Sam."

"Drop it." Samantha mumbled, but no one heard her.

"Do you know a Justin McGraw, Sam?" she asked.

Samantha thought for a second, "The one in Ravenclaw?"

"Yes, we have Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures with him." Alexis and Annabel said over each other. They were all three now staring at her.

"So…?" Samantha prompted, not liking where this was going.

"Well, today in the three Broomsticks one of his friends, Robby Turner, the one who transferred form the Wizardry school in America, came to sit with us and asked us if you were dating anyone." Alexis started.

"We said that you weren't so he asked what you thought of Justin. We said that honestly he had never come up in conversations, and then he asked if we could find out and tell him what you said so that he could refer back to Justin." Annabel added.

"Who apparently really likes you but is to shy to make a move right away but really wants to get to know you but also wanted to know first if he even had a chance with you." said Lily.

"He's really quite handsome isn't he, with his wavy black hair and blue-blue eyes? He's quite tall as well and extremely smart since he's in Ravenclaw." Annabel added dreamily.

Samantha stared at them. There hadn't been a single pause in the entire tale. She did know, Justin McGraw, he was shy and he was rather handsome but… she didn't really want to date anyone right now.

"It's soon time for dinner," she said and got up off her bed but groaned at their expressions. "What?"

They all shared worried glances before Alexis said, "Samantha, this is like the hundredth boy you have turned down."

Samantha gapped at her, "It is not."

"Well actually it might be." Annabel added, giving her the look her mother gave her when Toby, her Golden Retriever had died when she was eight.

"Merlin, you're all crazy." She said as she looked at each in turn. "Look, lets drop it and go down for supper." They gave her looks that told her it wasn't the end of the conversation but she turned and left without them.

* * *

At dinner that night Sirius had sat across from Samantha and after a few moments of avoiding eye contact she asked him to pass the gravy and as he did he asked her how her day was. It was strange how after that little exchange everything went back to normal. It was as if they had all let out deep breaths that they had been holding and it was as if nothing had happened, which was great because they were all best fiends and had been for almost all of their Hogwarts lives. Of course they don't all see eye to eye on everything but then there wouldn't be much interesting about each and every one of them.

"Thank Merlin that our first Quidditch game in next week." James, who was the Gryffindor Quidditch team Captain and Chaser, said as he shoveled mashed potatoes down his throat.

"Yeah it is completely unfair that we are the last house to actually play a game." Sirius added and sounded pained. He to was on the Quidditch team and played Keeper.

Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin had already had a chance to play against each other, Slytherin had played both teams and that was what probably made James and Sirius so angry about it. For both games Slytherin had come out the victor, which could also have been a reason to their resentment at not having played an official game yet.

"I remember when you were on the team, Sam." Sirius said giving her one of his winning smiles.

Samantha laughed, "I was horrid." She had played for one season in her Third year as a chaser and had never gotten in a score the whole time. The team captain at the time had been nice about it but she knew that the team would have been better off without her on it.

"I doubt that." Remus said who was sitting to the right of Sirius.

Samantha smiled at him and he looked quickly away.

Just then the doors of the Great Hall opened and the familiar high pitched laughter came through the doors. But it wasn't Peeves that stormed in, eyes glowing, fists balled and covered in ink and other substances.

The room filled with laughter as Severus Snape walked quickly over to his table where his comrades frowned and shook their heads.

Sirius, James and Peter laughed as well. Remus kept on eating as James choked on his mashed potatoes and Pumpkin Juice came out of Sirius' nose.

Samantha watched as Snape sat at the end of the Slytherin table. People moved away from him scrunching their noses or waving their hands across their faces, which meant that Peeves must have dumped something very vulgar on him. Only when their eyes met did she smile sweetly. He was looking at her as if he would hex her, and though he was completely capable of doing such a thing she couldn't help but laugh and give him a little wave.

The room came to an abrupt silence as the Bloody Baron, the ghost of Slytherin, rose up into the air from where he had been talking to Sir Nicolas. He drifted across the room over the heads of the terrified first years and Peeves' laughter stopped instantly. The Great Hall's doors slammed just as the Bloody Baron glided through them and everyone turned back to their dinner as they all knew and didn't care that the Bloody Baron, besides Headmaster Dumbledore, was the only being Peeves feared.

* * *

Severus didn't eat anything that he had gathered on his plate, he had lost his appetite. He ignored the rude comments and the desperate pleas of doing something about the smell from the people sitting around him. They could move if it bothered them. He also didn't pay attention to the snickering and pointing from the other house tables as he glared at _her_.

She sat there, at the Gryffindor table talking comfortably and laughing occasionally with the rest of the lowlife Gryffindors. He had known that she had something to do with Peeves ambushing him outside of the Slytherin Common room. She had been so angry with him by the time he left her out in the dungeon corridor. Perhaps she thought that this way she could get even with him…but for exactly what he didn't know. For not doing anything with her today? That would be absurd. She probably just thought that it would be funny to humiliate him and show him that she wasn't scared of him.

She had probably thought that he wouldn't have come up to dinner in such a mess but he wasn't going to let her get her way. He didn't care that everyone was laughing at him, they had never stopped since he arrived at this school, either that or just ignore him. Which was fine with him, he didn't need anyone in this school to like him or accept him, for he would do neither for them.

The Marauders kept looking over their shoulders at him, laughing and shaking their heads. Probably pitied that it had not been them that had caused him this. And to think that she had said once that she disagreed with their actions towards him. She was a hypocrite and no different from the four imbeciles.

She kept looking over at him, and after a while seemed uncomfortable to find him still staring at her. She shifted in her seat a couple of times and towards the end of dinner started to completely ignore his stare. He was glad that he could make he uncomfortable and could make her squirm.

He had to get even he thought as the room thinned out; he won't let her walk all over him. if she wanted to act childish he could as well.

* * *

Samantha lay on her back in her bed that night and wondered if she had gone too far. He had looked so mad. Then she thought about what James, Sirius and Peter had always bragged about doing to him. It wasn't the same was it? She hadn't done it because she hated him or wanted to cause him humility. She had done it because… great she _was_ one of the bad guys.

She turned over and tried to think really hard about what she was trying to do. Severus Snape is a boy that hates her guts. She isn't so keen on him either but wants to change that. The why of it being….ugh… that she was a good person…but that's a selfish reason isn't it? - To just want to do it to prove that she was truly a nice person. She turned back onto her back, maybe she was acting like a Hufflepuff.

Okay, Severus Snape is a boy that hates her – if for no other reason – for being a Gryffindor. He is a Slytherin, therefore she should hate him – if for no other reason – because of that. They have nothing in common, they argue and fight at every chance they get, as a Gryffindor and Slytherin traditionally would do…but today she had genuinely been serious about them doing something together.

Maybe it had nothing to do with being a Gryffindor or Slytherin, or even acting like a Hufflepuff. Maybe _she_ just wanted to get to know _him_. That's not such a bad thing.

* * *

Monday morning came and Samantha was the first in Potions class. She was sitting rereading her Herbology essay when Snape sat down next to her. She didn't say anything to him as the room filled up with chattering and gossiping, but she could feel him staring at her hard.

"Today we will be writing essays on the uses of Unicorn blood in medical potions and what would happen to the medical industry if Unicorns where to become extinct." Professor Slughorn announced.

People groaned and Samantha put her Herbology essay back into her bag. She looked over at Snape and found him already starting his essay with a neural look on his face, which she hadn't expected. She pulled out a spare slip of parchment.

'**I just want to say that I wasn't thinking clearly when I bumped into Peeves last Saturday. You must really hate me now but I'm truly sorry…**'

She pushed the parchment over to him and let out a sigh of relief when he picked it up, read it and started to write on it. She began her essay.

The parchment fluttered back down in front of her, written on it in his spidery scrawl was, '**I will always feel the same way about you Gryffindor. Hate indeed sums up these feelings towards you, however perhaps what you had done on Saturday was justified by my reaction and words to your proposal of friendship.**'

Samantha stared at the words written on the parchment 'perhaps…justified…proposal of friendship' she read it to see if she had interpreted it wrongly. No, she hadn't. He was excusing her behavior. She looked up and across at him but he wasn't looking at her. Even though all she saw was the side of his face she could see that his expression was neutral, however on the side of pleasant.

Had he changed his mind?

She scribbled on the parchment, '**So you're not mad?**'

Severus looked down at the parchment and could have laughed, '**No.**'

As Samantha left Potions class for Care of Magical Creatures her mind was buzzing. Snape wasn't mad at her which was not only strange and unexpected but was a relief. She had felt guilty all weekend about what she had done. She had acted so callously and childishly that she was ashamed.

When she reached the first floor she was met by a big group of people huddled in the center of the Entrance Hall. As she entered and people turned to see her, a wave of silence fell across the room.

"That's not her diary; she doesn't even keep a diary." Samantha heard Annabel's voice rise up from somewhere in the middle of the crowd.

As she got closer a group of girls to her right made kissing noises at her. Confused, she made her way through the snickering crowd to find Annabel and Alexis trying to pry a pink booklet out of a boy's hand. When they realized that she was there the boy dropped the booklet and her two friends fell back and landed on the floor.

Not thinking straight Samantha picked up the booklet and looked at the cover. Written across it in her loopy hand-righting was '_**Princess Samantha Cromwell's Diary**_' and underneath it '_**Keep out!**_'

"This isn't mine." She said, mortified opened to the first page which contained a poem titled '_**Why I love Remus Lupin**_' on it. She turned to the next page and its title was '_**Why I can't pick between Lupin and Black?'**_

Samantha couldn't breath as color swept up her cheeks and people around her chuckled. This had to be one of the top ten most embarrassing things that have ever happened to her. She flipped through the rest of the diary to find random stupidness written in her scrawl.

"I know it's not yours Samantha. But who would do something like that to you?" Remus said as he took the book out of her hands and performed some hexes on it.

"Oh I can guess someone that would." She said as someone yelled out, 'Ooo, Sam, you don't want to make Sirius jealous.' And someone else said, 'I would go for Sirius, Sam!'

_So this was why he was acting so civil towards her?!_

And so began their little war.

* * *

The next day people hadn't forgotten about the diary and everyone in the entire school had seemed to her memorized at least one part written in it and proceeded to rehearse it when ever they saw her in the corridors. Severus had thought that it was a stupid childish tactic but somehow knew that she would be embarrassed about something along the lines of this.

"Ignore them." Lily said coolly under her breath.

"I'm trying." Samantha ground out. It was stupid that people actually believed that she would be so self-centered, pathetic and prissy enough to write all those things in that diary. The majority of the perpetrators were girls, which Lily, Alexis and Annabel had told her were all of going out with boys that had one time or another asked her out. However, she found she could deal with it when the rest of the school laughed when ever she passed them but what had really set her off was when she had passed Snape and his three goons on the way to lunch.

Grinding her teeth and clenching her fists she ignored his friends as the yelled disgusting and outrageous statements at her.

"That was pretty pathetic if you ask me, Snape." She said to him as she passed him in the corridors on the way from Transfiguration.

After last period some people had forgotten about her momentarily as they laughed as Severus Snape started dancing around the corridors singing on the top of lungs about his love of Potions. He looked so ridiculous, his robes billowing around him as he grabbed the girls nearest to him to dance with them as he went through a long list of potions he loved. The girls would screen and run away but only to call more people to watch the escapade. Samantha had grinned from the corner where she stood; she had had to ask Annabel's Gregory, the Ravenclaw for help on forming the perfect charm. The frequencies his voice could reach were amazingly humorous.

Rodolphus had to tackle Severus to the ground as Bellatrix put a silencing spell on him, when they found him dancing along the frozen lake water's edge. Once they had removed the charm he was fuming. He had been trying to fight the charm the entire time but she must have had help with casting it.

"What's going on, Severus?" Rodolphus demanded.

"Nothing I can't handle." Severus growled. He couldn't believe that he had allowed that to happen he had seen her try to hide a smile as he passed her in the corridor but hadn't been thinking straight.

* * *

On Wednesday in Herbology Samantha had been asked to stay behind after class. Her Professor had told her that she had some nerve handing in such an insulting essay and was lucky to only come out with one detention and twenty points deducted from Gryffindor. When she had left, embarrassed and fuming she looked over her essay and found that all it contained was the 'I hate plants and roots, this class is pointless.' over and over.

"That was a low blow, Snape." She snapped under her breath the next day in potions as they worked on the individually assigned potion of the week.

"I know. Great though wasn't it?" he growled. He knew that she wasn't finished messing with him. She had been fuming all day giving him evil looks in the other classes they shared. Since this was their last class for the day he knew that she might try something with him in here. He took precautions, putting all the spell-repellants he could think of on his cauldron.

However he must have missed on something he realized when he had taken his finished potion to the front of the class to be graded and Professor Slughorn gave him an astonished look and asked him why he had added cat claw chippings instead of rat claw chippings.

Mortified and temper boiling he walked back slowly to his seat next to Cromwell and fought not to strangle her. He had never gotten a potion wrong, ever. He didn't look at her because if he had seen the smug look on her face he might not have been able to have controlled himself. He was going to kill her.

"Do you know," He ground out, "That if this in anyway lowers my grade…I swear I will ruin your life."

"I love you to." She ground out.

The rest of the day went by without an incident, both mad and both hurt. But they held it all in for fear of what might happen if they truly did what they wanted.

Perhaps it was because they had held it all in, why they had finally exploded in Friday's Defense Against the Dark Arts Class the next day. The Professor, their friends, the rest of the students stared in horror and confusion as they yelled and pointed their wands at each other.

That evening they both found themselves sitting in the Headmaster's office.

**_AN:- lol so, that was pretty petty...i would love to just get to the part were i marry them off and she saves him from L.V. and they have tens of chldren buuut, it doesn't work like that, if it did there wouldn't be much to write about, besides Severus Snape would never go for that!!!....next chapter should be up soon :)_**

**_i know this might seem a bit rushed but i didn't want to write chapters and chapters about it therefore wahlah, and besides i want to get a move on, necessary but don't need to drag on!!_**

**_Hope you still like the story_**


	11. A Meeting with the Headmaster

_****_

A/N Dont own anything HP, hope you like

__

Chapter eleven

Samantha was furious as she sat there in the straight-backed chair facing Dumbledore who was hidden behind the Daily Prophet. She had never been _sent_ to the Headmaster's Office before and wondered what would happen now that the fight had taken them this far. She glanced over at Snape who was sitting ramrod stiff in his own chair a look of impatience and disinterest on his face. How had this happened? How could she have let herself get this far? How could she have let him make her do this?

A chuckled came from the other side of the table, slowly lowered the paper and Dumbledore looked at them for the first time in the ten minutes they had been there. "The most interesting parts of the Daily Prophet are the little cartoons in the back. Don't you agree?" he said cheerfully.

Samantha didn't know what to say, was that a rhetorical question? Was it rude not to answer? She looked over at Snape who was examining objects on the wall behind the Headmaster's head.

"They are quite humorous." She finally said. She felt Snape turn to look at her. And Dumbledore smiled at her, his strange blue eyes twinkling.

"So," he said slowly looking from one to the other, "Do you know why you both were sent to see me today?"

There was a pause and neither answered – not knowing what to say.

"I understand that there have been quite a few…events taken place between the two of you this past week." He said slowly. "Not only the attempted dueling incident in today's class but also outside of class."

There was no reprimand in his tone but still Samantha felt the guilt begin to surface.

"Care to explain the cause of these events?" he asked. They both watched as he reached out long fingers and stroked the Phoenix's head which was perched to the side of his desk.

The room was silent, the portraits on the walls dozing.

Samantha didn't know what to say, where to begin, she hadn't thought that it would go this far, she hadn't been thinking at all she had only acted. Snape sat silently next to her giving no indication that he was going to explain anything.

"I understand there have been gossip, tampered class work, hexes and verbal outbursts between the two of you all week. All of which I have heard from reliable sources." he supplied when they still didn't respond. _The pictures_, Samantha groaned as she realized that quite a few of the portraits hanging in the room had portraits outside of it. "Now at this school such behavior if frowned upon and we need to resolve this dispute you have between each other."

"It was my fault, Headmaster, I started it." She found herself saying.

They both stared at her. She slightly blushed and continued, "Um, last Saturday I told Peeves…well not really _told_ him, but _encouraged_ Peeves to target Sn…Severus."

Headmaster Dumbledore's pleasant expression didn't change as he asked, "What had Mr. Snape done to warrant such a reaction out of you, my dear?"

Samantha felt her blush deepen as she thought real hard about what to say. She couldn't say because he just annoyed her so much, that would be ridiculous. What would be even more ridiculous would be if she said that it was because he had refused to want to try to be her friend. As she realized that that was indeed the reason why all this had happened she realized what an idiot she had been.

"We had a disagreement." Severus supplied. The embarrassed and desperate expression on Cromwell's face was disgusting him.

"A disagreement on what?" Dumbledore asked with interest.

Severus paused, it had been a disagreement of the possibility of…spending time with each other that day. He groaned, of all the things they do disagree about why it would have been something to trivial and awkward to explain he didn't understand.

"We disagree about many things." Severus answered.

"I see," Headmaster Dumbledore said slowly, "But what particular disagreement had caused all this to happen?"

Another long pause.

Severus was about to ask if it mattered, when Samantha quickly said, "Why a Slytherin and Gryffindor couldn't be friends."

Dumbledore looked surprised. There was a stir on the walls as the portraits straightened and spied. Samantha looked around and at the curious and disbelieving faces now all focused on their conversation.

"Your disagreement had been on why a Slytherin and Gryffindor couldn't be friends?" Dumbledore asked slowly.

"I know it's strange but it is honestly the truth." She said quickly wondering if he thought she was lying.

"My dear, I don't think that you're lying." he paused, "Pardon me for being taken aback, but I have never come across such a situation. I still don't fully understand how this could have caused the two of you to become so petty towards each other."

"Headmaster…this is so embarrassing but I had…I mean…when I think about it…it is such a ridiculous reason for our outburst." she paused and figured that if she started from the beginning it would make more sense. "Headmaster, Snape and I are partners in potions; we have been since the beginning of the year and will have to be until the end of the school year. We have never really spoken to each other since the beginning of the year and our friends…well our houses don't get along but I thought that maybe if we tried to get to know each other or at least get along it would make our last year at Hogwarts a lot easier. But given our completely opposite personalities, morals and attitudes it was hopeless wishful thinking on my part."

She looked at Severus who was glaring at her as if she had just sold his soul.

"Severus, is this true?"

Severus cleared his throat; she was making him look like the bad guy for following tradition. "For the most part, it is true."

"Care to add anything?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Actually yes, she might say that her only goal was to get to know me but she to has found it _difficult_ to look past what we are and trying to change how things are." He said as he stared directly into her blue eyes.

"What do you mean by 'what we are' and 'how things are', my boy?"

He hesitated slightly, "A Gryffindor and a Slytherin. You can't blame me for not being interested in becoming friends with someone who by nature opposes to everything I believe in. If she had expected me to change parts of myself as a Slytherin just to better the situation then she could have at least tried to have done so herself."

Anger bubbled up in Samantha, "You think I didn't try? Of course I tried. I tried to ignore the fact that you hated me just because I was Gryffindor. It was hard trying to find some kind of common ground when you were either ignoring me or yelling at me. The only times you ever talked to me were when you were barking orders or reprimanding me or telling me to shut up. I can't work with someone when I'm not comfortable and sometimes I think that you actually _try_ to make me feel uncomfortable."

"I don't try to make you feel uncomfortable. I don't like _talking_ to people but you don't seem to understand that. I like silence and work better alone. You could have respected my wishes and perhaps I would have been able to tolerate you more."

"How could I have respected your wishes if all you wanted me to do was leave you alone? We had to work together, further more I'm not a silent person. I can't just sit around and ignore the world."

"I can."

"And don't we all know that. I can't believe anyone could be as cold and mean and detached from the world as you are."

"So you have told me time after time."

"I pity you Snape. I truly pity you."

"Don't bother."

There was a long pause where the two of them sat staring at anything but each other. Samantha was on the verge of tears and she didn't know why, she was just so angry her heavy breathing and rampaging thoughts making her want to get up and leave the room. How could she have been so stupid? He wasn't even worth it.

"Severus," Headmaster Dumbledore began, "What exactly is it about Miss Cromwell that you can't relate to?"

He didn't even hesitate to answer, "Everything."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful, "Alright, what exactly is it about her that you hate then?"

Severus was about to answer when his tongue stopped him…what did he hate about her? Why would the Headmaster ask something like that? Hate wasn't tolerated. He searched the Headmasters pale blue eyes and watched as he slowly gave him an encouraging nod. Then he realized that her body had stiffened next to him. _What did he hate about her?_ He disliked that she was in Gryffindor but couldn't blandly say that in front of the Headmaster, disliked that she was annoying and talked to much, he disliked that he had to see her everyday, that she seemed to try so hard to get things out of him – through questions he didn't want to answer because they would lead to other questions, through talking to him when all he wanted her to do was shut up…but…

"I don't hate her." he finally said. "I don't hate her; I just don't know what to do with her. She is the complete opposite of who and what I am and that will never change." He couldn't believe this, he couldn't believe that he would ever have to try and explain his feelings about something like this. Not only was this humiliating but it was pointless and ridiculous. "She wants things from me I can't give her, Sir." It sounds like they were in a relationship, he groaned. "She works better with someone she can talk to; I work better alone. She wants to know everything about me; I have never asked her anything about herself because I honestly don't want to know. She might feel like being friends might fix this but I don't want nor need her as a friend. It sounds bad, but I don't want to waste everyone's time by lying. I can't see us continuing to work together without arguing about something."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful again, "Well I don't believe in impossible situations, I believe that everyone can overcome anything if they try. However, this honestly sounds complicated doesn't it?" he smiled sympathetically. He crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back in his seat. "I won't stand for prejudices in my school, but I do not think that is what is happening in this case." His eyes twinkled as they both looked at him curiously. "I have a feeling that that is exactly what the two of you think is causing these feelings but it is not."

"I don't understand." Samantha said quietly.

"Like you have both said, you are the complete opposites of each other. Both reasons behind those differences are not because of what house you are in." he said and began to stroke his Phoenix again who seemed to be staring at the two students with sad eyes.

Samantha was about to ask what he meant but he continued, "This potion you are working on, do you have to meet regularly to work on it?"

"The next ingredients needed we need to add to it on Wednesday of next week." Severus told him.

"Alright." He mused, "I would like that until then neither of you talk to the other, I think that a little time to calm down will help the situation and clear your minds. I understand that you have to sit next to each other in Potions because you are partners but I will speak to Professor Slughorn so that you will be separated. Now for the next few days I want you to think real hard about what it would mean to your potion grades if I am forced to separate the two of you for the sake of peace and harmony. On Wednesday, I would like you both to meet with me individually to put less pressure on your position to see if you still feel that it will be hazardous to work together. If you do choose not to work together I will arrange for you both to be given separate potions to brew, but be warned that you will not be able to get full marks in the end.

"I know neither of you understand what is going through the other's mind but there is nothing wrong with either of your reactions to each other…Except for the childish outbursts."

With that he dismissed them.

* * *

"I don't understand." Annabel said.

"I knew that it was hard for you to work with him but why didn't you ever tell us that it had gotten this bad?" Alexis said.

"I don't know. It's so weird, he's so horrid but I always try to make things work and of course they never do. The more I try the harder he puts up his barriers and the harder I try to break them down. It's like a constant competition." As she declared this it made total sense to her. It was a competition. "Sometimes I wish I could just work quietly with him and avoid arguments but you know how I am."

They laughed, "You want to talk about anything, and you don't care about what. You can't keep quiet for a minute or you'd start talking to yourself."

"Exactly," Samantha smiled weakly, "Maybe it is selfish of me though to try to force him to be what he's not. He was right when he said that I hadn't really tried to change anything about myself to better the situation. All I did was try to change him to better _my_ situation."

"That's crazy, Sam." Alexis said, "If there's anything wrong with either of you it's with him, if either of you had to change for the better, it's him."

"But that's not the point." Samantha said in frustration.

* * *

"Just tell Dumbledore you don't want to be her partner anymore." Rodolphus said simply.

Severus groaned, he wished that they hadn't known what was going on, they didn't understand. "I need to pass Potions, Rodolphus. _That_ _potion_ is what will determine most of my grade."

"You will be serving our Lord, what would you possibly want with an O in your Potion N.E.W.T.S.?" Bellatrix asked suspiciously.

They wouldn't understand. He couldn't tell them the truth, as fanatical as they were about Lord Voldemort. He couldn't tell them that he had plans and ambitions past Lord Voldemort. That would be dangerous and stupid. His life's goal was not to worship someone but to make something of himself. He would join Lord Voldemort but until then he was going to excel and graduate at the top just to show that he can and will and that he hadn't needed anyone to do so. They wouldn't understand that and he didn't expect them to.

"I'm going to bed." He declared and headed up the cold stone steps leaving his _friends_ behind. _Crazy buffoons the lot of them._

* * *

The next few days passed slowly. Samantha had listened to Alexis and Annabel late into the night about their thoughts and queries on the subject for about two days before they finally forgot about it. This pleased Samantha. She knew that all they were trying to do was help but all she wanted to do was sleep and think alone about it.

In Potions classes she sat up front with Remus and Sirius.

* * *

On Wednesday morning she had received an owl from Headmaster Dumbledore asking her to see him before her first class began. Severus had also gotten an owl and was to see the Headmaster during his first period.

As she sat before him looking into those twinkling steel-blue eyes she wondered again at what he meant the night before. He had said that it wasn't just their house differences that were playing with the tension between them.

"So, have you decided to continue working with Mr. Snape or decided it wouldn't be prudent?" he asked her as she sat before his desk.

"I have decided to leave this decision to him, Sir." She said.

"I don't understand, my dear." He said a twinkle again in his eye.

"I have decided that he is right, I did only try to change him to better the situation. I didn't respect his needs and only bombarded him, therefore out of apology which ever way he chooses to go about this I will agree to. However if he chooses that he doesn't want to work with me anymore I would like for him to continue with the Potion instead of failing us both…if that would be okay." When Dumbledore didn't say anything right away she added, "He's the best student in Potions and I'm sure he will complete the potion with his usual excellence. I don't think I need the Potion grade as much as he would, I could start a different brew and take whatever I get."

"I see," Dumbledore said slowly, "This is very noble of you Samantha. Are you sure that you really mean this."

"Yes sir." She answered.

He looked like he was about to say something else but paused, stroked his Phoenix and thought better of it.

* * *

Severus sat before Headmaster Dumbledore and wondered what Samantha had decided to do. If she had said that she did not want to continue working with him, it would be intolerable to have him say he wished to continue to work with her when he was already doomed.

He looked at Dumbledore's face and tried to read her decision from his expression, but he got nothing. Dumbledore was looking at him with a bland expression.

Finally he asked, "Sir, what had, Crom…Samantha…Cromwell decided?"

Dumbledore sighed and Severus couldn't help but sink down an inch in his seat. All he had worked for wouldn't even pay off. He had busted his ass from day one in this place to become something and all he had available for him in the distant future was a mask and a hooded robe. He couldn't believe it.

Dumbledore gave him a curious look that confused Severus but he had no time to dwell on it as Dumbledore said, "Before I tell you her final decision, I would like to ask you a few questions."

Severus suppressed a groan, just the way he had said it confirmed his future even more. "Yes, sir?"

"Now don't become offended and think before you answer." He paused and stroked the Phoenix, "Why can't you and Samantha Cromwell, besides the fact of being in separate houses, be friends?"

Severus sighed, why couldn't the old man leave this alone? It wasn't any of his business. He didn't need friends. He sort of had friends - he didn't want any friends. She was annoying…

"She's annoying." He said foolishly.

Dumbledore gave him a stern look, "I find it hard to believe that that is your definite reason to not give her a chance. Be honest with me, boy. It cannot hurt to be honest."

Severus felt anger rise in him, fine, Dumbledore wanted his honest opinion, he wanted him to come clean and spill out his guts. He could do that.

"It can't hurt to be honest, sir? So many people say that." He spat. "First of all I don't make a good friend. I don't tend to care about people, if you want me to be painfully honest. Secondly, if I ever start to humor Crom…Samantha with her girlish little theory that being friends will make our lives better she will start asking questions."

"Questions about my past,"_ and about my future, questions that I can't answer and don't wish to share._ He paused for a moment not looking at Dumbledore, he wouldn't say that, then the old man will also wonder about his future, perhaps question him. He looked back up again and couldn't hide the hatred in his eyes, "Sir, you know about my…parents. You've met them. You know where I come from, what kind of background I have. I can't change that about myself."

_But I can control who I am and what I will become._

He paused again then said coldly, "And I'm not ashamed, if that's what you're thinking now. I don't care anymore I have come to terms with everything." Again he paused, "And lastly, I don't need anymore friends." He was finished. It was more then he had said about himself in years, more than he had wished to share and to much that he wished he hadn't had said but maybe now Dumbledore would just drop it, maybe he would _pity_ him and just leave it be. And as he had said it he knew that it was true. She would ask questions and he hated answering them. Hated being reminded hated people knowing.

Dumbledore was silent for a minute he seemed to be thinking somewhere else. Then he smiled and Severus narrowed his eyes.

"Severus, firstly I think you don't give yourself much credit. I'm sure if you allowed yourself to be, that you would be a great friend. I do know where you are coming from and am glad that you aren't ashamed. I can understand why you don't want to share that with anyone but haven't you ever thought that someone could understand you better if they knew more about you?" he asked genuinely interested.

"Sir, I don't need anyone to understand me better." Someone had known about it and still discarded him. "People don't tend to _understand_ anyway, they just tend to pity and I don't want it."

"Alright, alright." Dumbledore said slowly, "You had said that you didn't need _anymore_ friends. Now I don't like to judge anyone but are Bellatrix Black and Rodolphus Lestrange the best friends you could ever have?"

"I don't trust them as far as I can throw them, sir." Severus said truthfully. There were only loyal to one thing lately he had realized.

"And you think that Samantha Cromwell isn't to be trusted either?" Dumbledore asked.

"No disrespect to anyone, sir, but I don't think that anyone can be fully trusted." Severus answered.

Dumbledore looked at him over his half-moon shaped spectacles, "It saddens me to hear you say that."

_But it's true_, Severus thought.

"I know that you think it is true, Severus." The way he had said this made Severus wonder if he actually could sense what he felt.

"I do wish you could think otherwise but it is your life my boy. And you have your reasons." Dumbledore said and shook his head.

Severus got up from his seat, ready to leave.

Dumbledore looked at him curiously, "You haven't given me your decision, son." He pointed out.

He sat back down and sighed again, "I had decided to continue working with her. But she had decided alternatively hadn't she?"

"Actually yes she had."

So it was true, he wasn't going to pass Potions at the top of his class this time, perhaps he was destined to master the Dark Arts.

"She had decided to leave the decision in your hands." Dumbledore said.

Severus stared at him for a moment, "She what?"

"She told me that what ever you had decided she would accept," He paused and his steel-blue eyes bore down on Severus, as if trying to read him and he continued, "but if you had chosen not to continue to work with her she had asked me to allow you to finish the potion you both had started to allow you to get full marks. She said something about you deserving the grades more then she did." Dumbledore explained.

Severus gaped at Dumbledore disbelievingly, "She said that?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Now the choice is with you. Do you take full marks with her or do you want them without her?"

This was his chance. He could be rid of her and still get his perfect grade…or he could work with her and probably still argue every step of the way. Part of him just wanted to say without her, but then another side said with her, which was absurd. He looked at Dumbledore, who was waiting patiently. Could he see that he was actually thinking hard about this? Why had she been so generous? Was she honestly that guilty about everything she had done? She would actually give him the choice of her receiving a great grade or failing completely, which she was likely to do on her own without him. _She honestly is hopeless in Potions._

Then a thought occurred to him. She was only doing this to make him look like the bad guy if he said no to continue working with her. But then again even if he had come in with the intention of saying no to working with her in the first place, which she probably had assumed, she would still have been stuck with a separate potion and a bad grade.

She meant it, he finally decided and that made him extremely uncomfortable. He could be wrong but his gut and what he knew about her told him that she genuinely meant it. He looked at Dumbledore again and said something that he knew he will regret in a second, "I still wish to work with her."

* * *

Severus sat in the Room of Requirement waiting for her to arrive. Dumbledore had said that he was going to tell Samantha that he had decided that they would still continue to work together. He didn't know what he was going to say to her when she finally walked through that door. He wasn't going to apologize for anything he had done in the past few weeks and they needed to set some ground rules. But he had decided to try Dumbledore's last advice he had been given before he left the Headmaster's Office. "_**And Severus, do try to be nicer and more understanding towards her. If not for any other reason, because she is a lady after all.**_"

He had said the last part as if it explained exactly why he could try to do those things. She was a lady it was true, if by lady Dumbledore had meant irritating girl.

Suddenly the door slowly creaked opened. He didn't get up as she walked into the room. Surly he wasn't meant to be respectful just yet?

"Hi." Samantha said as she closed the door behind her. This was so awkward it was as if meeting someone for the first time. Dumbledore had told her that he had told Snape her full decision and that knowing that he could have gotten full marks and been able to work alone, he had still decided to work with her. She didn't know what to think about that, but knew from experience with him that it didn't mean that he was softening to her.

He didn't greet her but stayed seated on the couch. Finally, as she sat down across from him he said, "I just want firstly to know what made you give me such an option."

She hesitated for a moment, "Look, maybe you were right. I guess I was pushing you to meet me half way but not myself. I know you don't want us to be friends and maybe I was naive to think that I could change that somehow and I still don't think it's completely impossible but I am sorry."

"Alright." He said and got up.

She followed him over to where their potion waited and asked, "That's all?"

"Well, no," He sighed, "I can't believe I am saying this but perhaps I can try to meet you half way. The one thing you can't live without that irritates me the most and almost always starts our disagreements and results in our arguing is your need to constantly talk. If we set ground rules on what we will talk about then…then I might comply."

Samantha gaped at him. "Are you telling me that you will talk to me, but only on pre-decided topics?" _He was mad_.

"That is all I can offer, either you take it or leave it. This is already very generous of me." he snapped and shoved some roots towards her form their preassembled stash to cut up.

"Alright, as crazy as that is. But then I also want to add my own ground rules." She said as she pulled a knife off of the shelf behind her. It was her turn again to do more work, he never realized it but Snape had always taken over when they had worked with the potion, but the fairly proportioned activity charm wouldn't let him continue until she caught up to her portion of the brewing steps.

"You begin." He said and pulled out a piece of parchment and a chair to sit at the table as she worked.

"You have to stop snapping at me all the time." She said and continued at his raised brows, "It's de-motivating and really annoying."

"Alright." He finally agreed and wrote it on the piece of parchment.

"Are we making a list of does and don'ts?" she asked incredulously.

"Lest we forget." He said simply. "Let's make it a work contract."

"Alright, your rule."

"No questions about family, friends and future." He said.

She stopped chopping, "What?"

He looked up at her from his seat, "Is there a problem?"

"That rules out so much." She pointed out.

He frowned, "Fine, no questions about family and friends."

"But what if I wanted to say something about my family and friends?" she asked, waving the knife around.

Severus groaned, "Merlin, no questions about _my_ family and friends, then."

Samantha was a bout to argue again but at the daring look on his face only nodded her head. He wrote it down. _Why didn't he want to talk about his family or friends?_ She wondered. Great now it will nag at her forever.

"Your turn." He said as she dumped the chopping into the cauldron. "Put the fire on double the heat for ten minutes and stir it ten times clockwise, then twenty times counterclockwise."

She did and said, "When you don't want to talk about something, just say so and I will drop it…this time I will."

He wrote it down, "That was exactly my next request."

**_A/N- I hope I am not getting rusty, it's been a while since I've last uploaded...sorry :(, hope You are still reading and leaving reviews :)_**


	12. Missing ingredients

**_A/N- Oooo, two chapters up just within days of each other...my my_**

**_I hope you like it, should get some action right? But look at this, not one review yet for either new chapter...makes me sad...I CAN NAG if I want!!_**

_Chapter Twelve_

The next week had gone by without incident and their working atmosphere was actually quite decent. She stopped with the questions when he asked her to and he wasn't snapping at her and was actually putting effort into conversations.

Samantha still didn't know if it would last though, sometimes he looked as if he were holding something back and her curiosity fought to win with her restraint. Her friends had given her hell about why she didn't just work alone and she told them that she'd rather suffer the next few months and come out with one of the top grades in the class than struggle as she worked alone and failed. On the Wednesday of the following week they found themselves yet again in the Room of requirement, working on the Felix Felicis.

"It's actually quite lucky that we had started when we had. When we put in the unicorn hair the Friday before Christmas break we don't have to add anything else until the second week of January." He told her as she stirred the potion the way he had instructed her to.

"I can't believe that Christmas break is less then two weeks away already." She mused and continued counting stirs, alternating their directions.

"Indeed." He said from behind the Potions book he was reading.

She noticed the Authors name and grinned. "You actually read Arnold Mellcrow's texts?"

Severus looked up at her, "I am surprised that you actually know who he is."

She suppressed a laugh; _he didn't know that half of it_.

"Potion critics don't tend to have that many nice things to say about him, since a lot of his creations are farfetched and dangerous to be distributed, but the theory and practices, not to mention _some_ of the great creations he has added to the Wizardry Medication Vault are remarkable." Severus said and continued reading.

Samantha beamed; there weren't that many people that spoke so highly about her father's work with so few words regarding to his sanity. He was respected for his ideas by many, yes, but ridiculed far more then praised. She wondered if she should tell him that that was her father but decided against it. He'd probably bombard her with questions about why she was so horrid when her father was a Potion Master. Not many people did know about it.

"What are your plans for the holidays?" she asked innocently enough.

"Nothing." He answered, not looking up from the book.

"Are you going home for the break?" she asked.

"I do have something that needs to be done so yes." He said as she finished stirring the cauldron and turned the fire temperature back down to a simmer.

"You don't sound at all excited." She pointed out.

He looked up then, "I'm not." He said simply.

"How come?" she dared to ask.

"This goes into questions involving family, Cromwell." He reminded her.

So, she dropped it. They were silent for a long while after that. Samantha's mind was running around the usual Christmas events at her home in the country and wondered if everyone that had come last year would come again this year. She had a huge family, which was great…sometimes and other times….not so much. She smiled as she thought of all of her cousins and aunts and uncles, her grandparents and friends of the family. Her parents had hosted Christmas for as long as she could remember, mainly because their home was the midpoint between everyone's home but more so because they were the only family members brave enough to allow _everyone_ into their home for almost two weeks.

Samantha looked over at Snape, his forehead was furrowed and his brows almost touching as his eyes moved across the pages he was reading. She wondered what it was like at his home, and then thought better of it, thinking that he might not have the same pleasant thoughts about his family as she did about hers. Well, she knew for a fact that he didn't, he wasn't happy about going home for the break and he never wanted to talk about them. Obviously there was something he didn't want her to know. She tried to push these thoughts out of her mind; she didn't want to imagine why anyone would not love their family.

She was just lowering the heat of the flames yet again when she heard a dark curse come from Snape. She looked over at him and he was still reading the book. Not her father's any longer but yet another one of those books that he is always reading.

"How could I have missed that?" she heard him mumble.

They were done for the day and she headed over to where he sat on one of the two two-seated couches. She sat across from him. "Is something wrong?" she asked as he navigated back and forth between two different books now.

He looked up, startled that she was there. She found that sometimes unnerving and sometimes irritating, that he seemed to forget that she even existed sometimes.

"Well, we'll find out tomorrow when I ask Professor Slughorn about it." He said and continued to read.

_Thank you, so much. That completely answered my question._

"What is it?" she asked, not swayed.

He didn't seem to hear her so she rolled her eyes and asked again. He looked up and finally sighed and said, "What we need to add from the Unicorn might actually prove to be impossible to get."

She frowned, "You said that all we needed was a hair from a Unicorn tail." That didn't seem to be too hard; Professor Slughorn had hundreds of Unicorn hairs.

"Yes, and what Professor Slughorn has in storage will work, however I believe, and my readings have concurred that a hair from the tail of a unicorn with the root still attached would get our potion to the maximum performance level. I think that all Professor Slughorn collects are _cuttings_ of Unicorn tail hairs." He said and referred back to the books, nodding to himself.

"So, even though what we have available will work, you want _that_ more?"

* * *

The next day, Potions was their was class and as Samantha finished up her essay on that weeks root, Severus, already finished with his own essay, was at the front of the classroom asking Professor Slughorn about the Unicorn hairs. She wasn't too worried about it though, because he had said himself that the cuts of Unicorn hair would work fine.

A few moments later Snape sat heavily into the seat next to her.

"Well?" she asked without looking at him.

"He doesn't have it and said that though it is a great suggestion that we should be more than fine with the Unicorn hairs he has in his supply." He said. But the way he said it as though it was a horrible loss made her look over at him.

"You sound heartbroken." She said teasingly.

He scowled at her. "It wouldn't matter to someone like you, but I have the opportunity to make the perfect Felix Felicis, I know it, and I'm not going to settle for an almost perfect potion if I can make _the perfect one_."

She watched him and knew that he was planning something. But how would he get a Unicorn tail hair with the root still attached if no teacher would have it in their stock?

"What are you planning?" she asked.

He looked over at her and with their close proximity she felt his breath touch her cheek. He seemed to think for a moment and finally looked like he made up his mind. He shrugged and said, "Never mind. I guess we'll settle for a almost perfect potion." With that he started to reread his essay.

Samantha frowned and watched him. He was lying. She knew it from the faraway look on his face, the way his eyes weren't moving over the paper as quickly as they usually did and by the way he just gave up his _perfect potion_ just like that.

"You're lying." She accused and he glanced back at her, a blank look on his face. "What are you planning?"

"Don't be ridiculous Cromwell. What would I be able to do to change the situation?" he said.

She was about to force him to tell her the truth when she was interrupted with professor Slughorn clearing his throat to tell them all their homework essays for the next Monday.

* * *

Samantha sat on her four-poster and was itching to leave for supper. She would have looked for Snape now but hadn't any idea where he would be. She knew what he was planning and she had to stop him.

"Sam?" she quickly looked over at Lily and Annabel, who were sitting on the floor over their own potion.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked.

"Yes, why?" Samantha asked.

"You seem really agitated." She said.

And Annabel added, "And you haven't said anything to us since Potions class." She stirred the potion again.

"I'm fine; I just have a lot on my mind today. Ugh, with the potion and stuff." She said. She couldn't exactly tell them that the reason why she was all worked up was because of Snape. She couldn't really tell them what he was thinking about doing.

"I know what you mean." Lily said, "One of us has to take this stupid potion home, because we have to add one crab claw on the twenty-five of December."

Annabel groaned, "Can you believe it? One thing. I can't imagine how people can love potions, they are so demanding." Samantha watched as her stirring became jerky and inconstant. Snape would have strangled her if he caught her stirring their potion like that. She almost laughed imagining the horror on his face.

"I don't know how your dad could love it so much." Lily mused. "Severus too. He must be such a dictator when the two of you are working together."

Samantha glanced at her watch and quickly said, "Sure. Hey, are you both ready to head down for dinner, I'm starving."

* * *

Samantha barely ate as she watched the doors of the Great Hall. Lily, Annabel and Alexis gave her curious stares and she just shrugged them off.

"Lily, you coming to the game this Saturday right?" James asked. He sat opposite Lily with Sirius and Remus on either side of him, and Peter next to Sirius.

"I can't, no." she said and James face fell. "Annabel and I have to add more ingredients to our potion, and it has to be during your game." She continued without looking at him.

"Oh." He said, disappointed.

Sirius groaned, "It's our first game and only two of you can make it."

"What do you mean?" Samantha asked, giving her eyes a break from staring at the door.

Peter answered, with his lispy voice, "Lily and Annabel have to work on their potion and Alexis and me have Ancient Runes detention – missing the game."

"I guess you and Remus are all alone." Alexis said and gave Samantha a smile.

Samantha gave her a hard warning star and looked over at Remus who at the same time looked over at her. She returned his smile. They got along great but she didn't want her friends to push her all over him. She had tried to explain that to them after the Halloween dance but obviously _they think they knew_ what was best for her and are keeping to it.

Almost a quarter of an hour later, Samantha glanced over at the Slytherin table to see if he had slipped in while she wasn't looking, but he still hadn't arrived. What if he had already gone? But he couldn't have been that stupid to have gone while there was still light shinning off the snow?

She excused herself and got up from the Gryffindor table. She said she needed to go to the rest room and before one of the girls should decide they too needed to go she quickly walked over to the door of the Great Hall and stepped outside. She had closed the door behind her and quickly turned the corner and crashed into another body.

She heard a hiss and a groan and from the floor looked up into the disgusted faces of Bellatrix and Rodulphus. Already on his feet Severus looked down at her with a slightly annoyed expression.

"Watch where you're going." Bellatrix warned.

"Where's the cub heading off to in such a hurry?" Rodulphus mocked as he stepped over her.

"Ugh…" Samantha glanced back up at Snape when Rodulphus was no longer hovering over her and wondered why she was even thinking about what she was going to say. It was not of his business, and she told him so, with a few extra words.

"Don't you dare speak to him like that again!" Bellatrix exploded and she swung back her hand.

Severus quickly moved his hand to get his wand and had it out when Bellatrix's hand stopped just inches from Cromwell's face. He lowered his wand and hid it in the fabric of his robes as he watched Cromwell back away from Bellatrix's reach as Bellatrix realized what she had just done.

Bellatrix cursed Samantha and struggled to get at her. She tried to reach for her wand when her other hand stopped moving. Rodulphus who had had his hand wrapped around the handle of the door stormed back, his face drawn and his eyes wide and rage on his face. "You filthy, Half-" he started. He was almost upon Cromwell who was still inching away on her backside and aimed his wand at her skull but she had hers out before and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" his wand flew across the corridor.

Again Snape found himself hiding his wand again. She could actually hold her own he realized but noticed she hadn't done anything else to stop Rodolphus and he was still advancing on her.

"Enough." He said and Rodulphus actually stopped mid-step. He had his eyes trained on her and his fists clenched but Samantha watched as something dawned on him and didn't turn when Bellatrix let out a horrible growl.

"You would listen to him? Obviously he is trying to protect her." She growled, "What exactly are your motives, Severus?" she hissed.

Severus raised his wand as Samantha turned to look at him. She watched in horror as he aimed it at her. She couldn't hear what spell he was using on her, just saw the flash of bright light and everything went dark and quiet. She felt herself move; she was still conscious but was blinded and deaf. She tried to yell out and ask what they hell was going on, but nothing came out. She hadn't even seen it coming. Her heart rate speed up and was all she could hear. She backed away from where the three Slytherins had been in front of her and panicked when her back touched the wall. But no one had done anything to her yet. She squeezed herself against the wall and decided there was nothing she could do. Snape wouldn't let them hurt her if there was anything he could do about it right? Her heart sank, he was the one that had just done this to her. She fought back tears. She wasn't going to please them by showing them that they were affecting her this greatly. That she was terrified, that this was one of her top fears - to be blind and deaf, to be invisible. As the fear gripped her, she tried to push it back with all her will and was surprised when a light flashed before her eyes, though they were closed. She felt nauseous and was going to be sick but she fought it off.

* * *

"He's right Bellatrix." Rodolphus said in warning yet again. He held a restraining hand around her now free arm. "He is forever stopping us from getting caught. Look around, we are right outside the Great Hall anyone could have come out and we might have been investigated."

Severus watched as Bellatrix forced herself to relax. She had fought them both to get to Cromwell and accused him of alternative motives towards the girl sitting against the wall looking around blindly and deaf.

"Yes," she finally said, "We mustn't draw attention to ourselves yet." She gave Severus a cold look which he returned. She no longer trusted him, and he had never trusted her.

Rodulphus gave her a kiss and told Severus to take care of the Half-blood as they entered the Great Hall for supper.

Severus let out a breath and turned to Cromwell who was still shaking her head wildly. She was such nuisance. Bellatrix already doubted him and thought he was going soft, but what could he do? It was true, they shouldn't draw attention to themselves he told himself. It had only been two minutes that Cromwell had sat there but she looked terrified and looked like she was having trouble breathing. He lifted the spell.

Samantha collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily and had to keep her eyes shut tight as the familiar creaks of the building and torch lights can back. She listened to her raged breathing and slowly looked up to find Snape staring down at her from where he stood a few feet away. She tried to get up but paused.

She narrowed her eyes at him and used the wall to get to her feet.

"How dare you…" she huffed and held a hand to her chest, holding back tears. She was fine but the ordeal had terrified her and right now she just wanted to lash out and attack him but has to weak at the moment. He moved towards her and as soon as his hand wrapped around her arm and he pulled her to her feet, the Great Hall doors opened and Alexis and Annabel stepped out.

There was about a second of awkward silence as the door swung closed by itself. Alexis and Annabel stood frozen as they took in the sight of the shaken Samantha, breathing hard and looking shocked and Snapes' clasped hand around her arm.

"What going on here?" Annabel asked.

"Get away from her." Alexis warned.

"No." Samantha said. "No…it's not-"

"Did he attack you?" Alexis asked as they both snapped back to life and pushed Snape out of the way.

"Ugh, no." Samantha said and took on last calming breath and glanced over at Snape who just stood there quietly watching her. She then noticed that none of his friends were there and it suddenly dawned on her. "He didn't. Actually, I think that he sort of saved me."

She watched as he frowned and walked off into the Great Hall.

"Samantha?" Annabel asked. "What did he save you from?"

She looked at them and they gave her a disbelieving look. They weren't going to believe anything but the truth so she told them what had really happened. They looked mad and curious when she was done.

"She's such a bitch." Alexis said.

"How could she _love_ that horrid boy so much?" Annabel scowled and they headed to the girl's bathroom, since that was the reason they had all actually left the Great Hall for.

"They are a pair made in hell those two." Samantha agreed.

"But why freeze all your senses?" Alexis asked suspiciously.

"Right," Annabel added, "He could have just stopped them in front of you." She said, looking thoughtful.

"I don't know." Samantha stated. She has now wondering the same thing.

"It doesn't make sense." Alexis said again. "Maybe he got a sick thrill of it? He still is a monster."

Samantha didn't say anything.

"Or perhaps because you might have said or done something to interfere or get them worked up again." Annabel suggested. They both looked at her. "Well think about it, you would have retorted or done something if they had said anything, so if you couldn't hear and see what you were doing then you wouldn't have provoked them further. You know what a smart ass you are Sam."

Samantha and Alexis shared a look. They smiled and formed a huge around Annabel.

"Sometimes you truly surprise me Annabel." Alexis said. "It makes so much sense that it was implausible to our minds."

Samantha agreed and Annabel pouted and said, "I am smart you guys."

"Yes, but usually very naïve." Samantha said and the laughed as they headed back to the Great hall.

* * *

Severus had felt her eyes on him since she had reentered the Hall. What was her problem?

He had arrived late for supper and most of the students and teachers had already left when he finally got up from the table.

When he entered the corridor he walked down half of it and leaned against the wall with his back and pressed a foot against it as well as he stared at the ground and waited. A few moments later, like he knew she would, Cromwell stuck her head out into the corridor and when she saw him walked over to him.

"You don't have to thank me." he said as she stopped right in front of him.

"Thank you? Why would I do that?" she said and he looked up to find her hands clenched and pressed to her waist. She looked really stern.

"I save you and you don't wish to thank me?" he raised a brow.

She looked irritated now. "Look, no I am not thankful that you took advantage of me and put me into a horrible dark place. But that's not why-"

"Took advantage of you?" he scowled, "I did no such thing. What because you couldn't speak and get yourself into greater trouble with them your actually mad at me? I-"

"Look let's just drop it. You stopped me from going too far and made me look like an even greater fool. But I wanted to talk to you about something else." She interrupted.

"Which is?" he asked irritated.

"You cannot go into the Forbidden Forest." She said.

He looked at her blue eyes and said, "Why would I do that?"

"Don't act like a fool and don't lie to me, you and I both know that you're going in there to get what you really want." She gave him a look daring him to deny it.

"Look just leave this alone, Cromwell." He warned her.

"I'm not letting you go in there-" she said.

"What are you going to do, Cromwell, report me?" Severus asked.

She looked him over, he had his arms crossed around his chest now and the irritated look was gone but an annoyed look lingered with determination etched into him face. "If I have to." But she knew she wouldn't and she knew that she couldn't stop him from going.

He took a step closer and was about to say something further when she continued, "But I don't think I will."

He stopped, and asked her suspiciously, "Why is that?"

She didn't know why so she avoided the question and said, "Well, I'm coming with you."

**_A/N - REview please? Be kind and...review lol_**


	13. Trip into the Forbidden Forest

**_A/N:- HI!! Thank you all for the great reviews, those that are leaving them and those who are "just" reading...alright fine, be that way :(_**

_Chapter Thirteen_

The look on his face had been priceless, Samantha thought as she sat on her bed waiting for Lily to come back. He had been horrified, as if she had told him that she was really a man or something completely outrageous. Of course he had said that there was no way in hell that she was accompanying him on this. They had argued and threatened for almost fifteen minutes until he finally gave in and said that they would go tomorrow around midnight. Of course he was lying to her but she played along and made sure that he believed that she believed him.

They prepared a whole plan, what to bring, where to meet, how long they thought it would take to find the Unicorns that were known to live in the forest. He even had the strategy to mention that they should seek out Hagrid who knew the Forbidden Forest back to front.

But she knew that he was lying. That he would go tonight, thinking that she was under the impression that they were going tomorrow night.

Annabel and Annabel had changed into their nightgowns and were sitting on Annabel's bed talking and laughing. Samantha looked over at them and from the hysterical fit they were in smiled and asked, "What's so funny?"

They both looked over at her and grinned. Alexis told her, "How outrageous it is that we _both_ thought that the reason why you where to flushed and breathless when we found you and Snape in the corridor was because he had _kissed_ you." They both broke into giggles again.

Samantha's heart sped up, "What?" she said. That was crazy, they had actually thought that?

"Sam, you should have seen it from our end." Alexis said.

"Your hair was rumpled. You were sort of blushing and breathless. And then Snape! He had his hands wrapped around your arms. He actually had you pulled against him, didn't you realize that?" Annabel said wrinkling her nose.

Samantha didn't remember being _pressed against_ him. He had just pulled her to her feet.

"For a second I was wondering if we should go back inside." Alexis stated, "But then we saw the terrified look on your face and it clicked in my head exactly _who_ you where with."

"Snape." Annabel supplied. "Then we worried of course."

Samantha was quiet for a moment looking at them. Finally she said, "That is crazy."

Before they said much else Lily came back into the room, gave Samantha a look and headed into the back. Annabel and Alexis had already started a new conversation and didn't notice when the other two girls disappeared into the back of their shared room.

"You owe me something big for this one." Lily said as she handed over the cloak.

Samantha looked down and touched the smooth silky fabric of the Invisibility Cloak and excitement began to bubble within her. She smiled and asked, "Did he try to squeeze a date out of lending this to you?"

Lily groaned, "It was so much worse. He wanted me to come to his house for a day during the Christmas break…said he wanted me to meet his parents." She paused, her eyes closed tight, then continued, "I promised him a date instead."

"Wow, you could have just said no to me." Samantha laughed. But she was grateful that Lily hadn't said no.

"You owe me a date now." She smiled and added, "With anybody I choose."

Samantha groaned but nodded and Lily's face brightened. She was pretty sure she knew who it was going to be, but having the Invisibility Cloak tonight was important. She could suffer one date with one boy for this.

"Why do you need it anyway?" Lily asked, watching her suspiciously.

"You really don't want to know, Lil." _I really don't want to tell you._

Lily threw up her hands in surrender. "Okay."

That was the great thing about Lily, she could take a hint. If you asked her to leave something alone she would no questions asked.

* * *

A little after midnight Snape crouched down as Filch, the Caretaker passed yet again with Mrs. Norris, his cat, slithering through his legs as he sort of limped down the corridor. He was already on the first floor and so far no one knew that he was out of bed. He silently waited until old Filch, cursing and threatening, disappeared around the corridor bend then jogged towards the front door of Hogwarts. He used his wand to open the door, silencing the creaks and groans it made as he opened and closed it behind him.

It was extremely cold outside, his breath showed in the dark air around him and he tried to slow his breathing even more, though he was already breathing lightly. Snow covered everything and tonight the moon was full and bright making the snow twinkle and reflect.

He looked around and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No one was out there but him. He stuck to the outskirts of the castle, climbing over and under the bushes and trees that were in his way, so that no one would be able to see him from the gardens or the windows above. It was freezing, so he pulled his coat and cloak tighter around himself.

Half way to the area where he would meet the first trees of the Forbidden Forest a bunch of snow fell from a tree and onto his head. Luckily he was wearing his hood but still he looked up and cursed the tree he stood under. He was getting closer to the edge of the forest when suddenly snow hit him in the back of the head. He whirled around, knowing that someone had to have thrown it at him.

His eyes roamed the area from which the snow came. Nothing was there. He searched the ground but could only see his own foot prints in the snow. He heard the crunch of snow under someone else's foot and jumping to face the direction pointing his wand at the same time a ball of snow hit him in the face.

Samantha started laughing as Snape fell backwards into the snow and took off the cloak. She was standing at his feet as he got most of the snow out of his hair and face. He glared up at her. _Of course, it had to have been her._

"Surprised to see me?" she asked. He ignored her outstretched hand and got to his feet. "You seemed a bit scared there for a moment." She taunted and laughed.

"You, Cromwell, are lucky that I didn't put a spell on you." He groaned. What was he to do now; she was going to hold him back.

However, before he could say or do anything more he heard more footsteps and heavy breathing. They both spun around to see Filch through the trees heading their way.

"Shit." Snape muttered under his breath and started to quickly inch further along the side of the castle. Perhaps he could make it to the forest before the caretaker saw them. Perhaps he would make it and Cromwell would be caught and punished, he sped up. But before he even reached the cover of the next tree ahead of him he was thrown to the ground and covered by something silky and not to mention - Cromwell.

Snape tried to push Cromwell off of him but she wrapped an arm into his cloak and put a hand over his mouth. Her palm was warm and soft against his cool lips. She knew that he was angry from the hot air hitting her fingers and how his jaw tightened under her hand. He grabbed her arm and pulled her hand off of his face and she whispered, "It's an invisibility cloak. We're fine, let's just wait until he leaves."

Snape didn't say anything, just tried to inch away from her. She was all over him, she had a leg thrown over his, her hands in his cloak and her face was so close to his that he could feel her warm breath against the nape of his neck. He could even smell her, he couldn't place what she smelt like but it was all around him.

Filch seemed to have heard something and stopped just a few feet away from where they sat in the snow covered ground.

"Rotten kids. Bet they are out here." He muttered to himself, "Show yourself!"

Samantha tried to sit still as Filch's pale eyes drifted back and forth, stopping now and then on where she and Snape sat. Her heart started to beat faster as Mrs. Norris eyes meet her own. Could animals still see through the Invisibility Cloak?

After a few more silent searching moments Filch seemed to think that no one was out here after all and clucked to his cat, "C'mon Mrs. Norris. Many there are some inside looking for some good old fashioned punishment." Mrs. Norris, eyes intent on Samantha's took a few steps towards them meowing traitorously. Samantha's heart was beating hard but let out a silent breath as Filtch picked up the damned cat and started back the way he had come.

As soon as the Caretaker had disappeared around the corner of the castle wall, Snape pushed Samantha away from him.

"Hey!" she yelled out as she landed face first in the snow.

"Shh." Severus demanded. He grabbed her roughly around the wrist and pulled her to her feet. He pushed her ahead of him and they quickly jogged to the trees before she could make any more noise.

Once under the cover of the dark Forbidden Forest Samantha stopped to catch her breath. Snape stood next her breathing regularly. He must be in better shape than she was. Then she thought of what they had just done and what that could mean for her Prefect status if they had been caught. She would have been in huge trouble, she should know because she knew the rules and consequences of the school. She would have lost her Prefect position and been suspended. It was no laughing matter but she couldn't help herself as she looked up into Snape's angry face - she laughed.

Severus looked down into Cromwell's upturned face and saw that she was laughing. She was absurd. They could have been caught wandering the grounds after midnight, which in the least would definitely have gotten them points removed and detentions for a week.

"That was such fun." She said, still grinning.

"Indeed." He looked into the darkness of the forest and plotted which direction he would head into first. He saw a slight path heading to the north and thought back to everything that he had read that evening about Unicorns.

Samantha watched as Snape closed his eyes and frowned. He will forever have a frown on his face whenever she thought of him. Since he was obviously thinking really hard she took the time to fold the Invisibility Cloak and put it into a bag that she had brought with her. She took her wand out of her robes pocket and hexed the bag to shrink and places both objects back into her robes.

Snape, ready with his course of action opened his eyes to find Cromwell in his line of vision. She smiled when their eyes met and he groaned. "Why are you here?"

She raised a brow, as if surprised that he had had to ask, "I told you earlier that I wasn't letting you go alone." Her smile brightened, "You didn't honestly think that I believed you when you told me that you would take me with you tomorrow night?" she twirled and looked around the forest encompassing them, "I know when you're lying to me, Snape. Which way are we going?"

It was his turn to raise a brow. He was an excellent liar. For her to say that she knew when he was lying made him mad, but then again there she is. Obviously he wasn't going to get her to go back to the castle so he groaned and pushed past her.

Samantha smiled to herself as she picked up pace to keep up with him. He was murmuring to himself as he avoided overgrown tree roots and rocks. She tried to look ahead of him to get some idea of where they were heading but all she saw was darkness and shadows ahead of them.

After about fifteen minutes of none stop power walking Samantha sped up to walk side by side with him. She glanced sideways at him expecting him to still be angry but his eyes were neutral as they searching the area around them.

"How do you know where to go?" she asked him.

Severus looked to the right at her upturned face and again he realized that she wasn't as tall as him, that she was just a few inches shorter than he was but she was still quite tall for the average girl that went to Hogwarts and for some reason this was important. But it wasn't so he looked ahead again.

"I did some research. Unicorns don't tend to live on the outskirts of a forest. They tend to dwell in the center of the forest near a stream or some sort of water supply and only really drift from the area to search for food." He figured if they headed in straight they should cross through the center of the forest and hopefully come across one. He had also read that they left behind hoof prints on the ground that shimmered gold slightly under the shine of the moon. He told her to keep a look out for such a thing. Here inside of the forest was just as cold as it was on the grounds of Hogwarts but not as much snow covered the ground – only in areas where there is a large gap between trees.

"So you like to read, don't you?" Samantha asked after more moments of silence.

He sighed but didn't look at her when he said, "Cromwell, reading is inevitable, and it must be done."

Samantha wrinkled her nose. What a strange answer that of course didn't answer what she asked. "But you must like to read, as much as you read. Who is your favorite Author?"

"I have many." He said avoiding her question because it was insignificant.

She was quiet for a while after that. Thinking to herself and watching the shadows around them. They had both pulled out their wands earlier and lit them to enable them to see better ahead of them in the dense overgrown forest.

"What are we going to do when we find it?" Samantha asked, unsure of how to approach a Unicorn. She couldn't imagine that it would be an easy task.

When he didn't answer she looked at him and again he looked angry. "Well?" she prompted.

"Look, you forced me to do this tonight with your interference and I haven't thought out the perfect foolproof plan. If it weren't for you I would have planned this out thoroughly and done this sometime next week perhaps." He raved.

He was blaming her for this and she wasn't surprised. "See, either way I would have come along, you should have just sucked in your pride of whatever you are working from and just let me help." She argued back. Again they were quiet, both probably thinking of ways to corner a Unicorn and calm it enough to rip out a few of its tail hairs.

Samantha nearly tripped over a large root and cursed at it then smacked into Snape's back. "Watch-" she began but he shh'ed her.

He held up his hand and looked around for a moment then asked, "Did you hear that?"

She listened for a moment, "Hear what?" then she heard it. Something coughed ahead of them. Then there was the sound of…feet…no, hoofs hitting the ground. And as they stood there listening quietly, the sounds came nearer.

Samantha took a step back and whispered, "Do you think it is a Unicorn?"

"I am not sure but somehow I don't think so no." he whispered back. He was sure that he had just heard something cough and he had a feeling he knew what it was.

Realizing that they had been fools to come into the Forbidden Forest, with its unknown creatures and horrors Samantha grabbed onto the back of Snape's robes and pulled him backwards with her.

At first he didn't protest and let her pull him backwards slowly. She had a hand out behind her feeling for obstacles and when she touched a tree maneuvered around it.

"I think that they are Centaurs." Severus told her after a moment.

Just then Samantha's hand came in contact with another obstacle behind them but her heart stopped at the furry coarse feeling of it. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and she jumped to look behind her.

Severus felt Cromwell let go of his robes and heard her breath hitch as someone or something male said, "I believe that you are correct." At the same time he felt someone back into him and they both fell to the ground.

* * *

For the second time that evening Samantha found herself on the ground whilst sitting atop Snape. But she didn't think about it as she looked up at the Centaur towering over where they lay on the ground. He had the black coated body of a horse and his human torso and upper body were also dark, he seemed to eerily fade into the darkness around them. She had heard stories about Centaurs fighting with Wizards and Witches for equality and though they were usually a peaceful race she knew from the expression on his young severe face that he was not happy at all that they were in his forest.

"What brings you to our forest?" he demanded, "You humans are unwelcome here!" his hoofs stomped on the ground and he moved forward, trying and succeeding to intimidate them.

Samantha crawled backwards away from the stomping hoofs of the livid Centaur, with half her body on Snape, it proved difficult to do so.

Snape grabbed his wand and aimed it at the Centaur but uttered no spell. He too could try to intimidate. However, the presence of a wand directed at the Centaur really angered it and the dark Centaur reared. "You think to come into my home and threaten me with you magic!" he yelled.

"What out!" Severus yelled and grabbed hold of Cromwell around the waist. With her in his arms he rolled to the left, trying to let from under the much larger Centaur. He had refrained from sending a spell at the Centaur because he knew that even though the Ministry of magic has restricted them in all ways, the Centaurs still lead their lives by their own laws. He was in their terrain.

Samantha grunted as she and Snape rolled into a ditch and he landed on top of her, knocking the breath out of her. They scrambled but the Centaur was already over them again yelling at them that they dare threaten him with wands. He snorted as he stood on his hind legs again as he kicked with his front two. Samantha thought that he was going to trample them and grabbed onto Snape's hand. She closed her eyes and counted the seconds waiting and then suddenly Snape pushed her away from him and the angry Centaur.

Snape watched as the hoofs of the beast came down and as another Centaur, a blonder one in color sprang out in front of him. Its horse half was like a barricade, as the darker Centaur pushed at it. It used its human upper body to hold the other Centaur's flailing arms. After a moment of struggle the other Centaur backed off.

"You would try to protect these _Wizards_, Firenze?" the darker of them asked, distastefully, his lips curling as he said 'wizards'. "They who have banished us to live out our lives in _selected forests_?"

"They are but young. They have nothing to do with the past rulings, Bane, but certainly the future." The lighter Centaur said in a calm and soothing voice.

Samantha looked over to Snape from where she lay flat against the ground. He motioned for her to follow him and he crawled backwards towards the nearest tree.

"Fine, but they should not be in here. They are trespassing and the elders shall want to know about it." The dark one said.

"I think not." The blond one replied, "I have seen it in the stars that I would meet with a beautiful Witch and a dark Wizard." He looked over his shoulder at them and Severus pointed his wand at him. _Dark Wizard?_Firenze turned back to Bane.

"You have seen this in you planet searching?" The dark Centaur asked with suspicion making his features even darker.

From where they sat they couldn't exactly hear everything that was being said as the two Centaurs continued to talk. The dark one seemed to be agitated and quarrelling and the blond was calm and serene as if he hadn't just had to fight off the other. "I think he's trying to help us." Samantha whispered to Snape. She watched as the dark Centaur nodded and with a distrusting stare in their direction started to back away.

"Right. Let's just get out of here." Snape got to his feet and reached a hand out to her.

She let him help her to her feet and as he let go of her hand his other raised and pointed his wand at the approaching Centaur.

"You back off." Snape said in warning. Samantha looked up at him. He wasn't scared and he wasn't bluffing as he pointed his black wand at the Centaur.

"I am not as my brethren, Bane." The Centaur said but he did stop approaching them. "I know why you have come here tonight. I know what you seek. And it is in my destiny that I take you to it, that I assist you in this quest though my herd would disapprove." He took another step closer and Snape lifted his wand even more.

Samantha watched the Centaur. His features were softer than the other, his face gentle his eyes genuine. She put out her hand and wrapped it around the hand Snape had his wand in. "He's not going to hurt us." She whispered.

Snape spared her a short glance. His eyes were narrowed and told her that she was a naïve fool to trust so easily. She tried to push his hand down but he fought her, not budging an inch. She smiled and he groaned. He looked back at the Centaur and asked, "What exactly is it you think we came here for?"

"You are in search of a Unicorn and I have seen that you will not find it unless you accept my aid." He said. He walked closer and the light from their wands lit up his face and upper body. He looked as though he was their age, his face youthful his body young but muscled. He smiled down at Samantha and gave a slight bow, "I am called Firenze." He said.

Samantha gawked; having never seen a Centaur in the flesh before and then realized he had introduced himself. "Oh, ugh I'm Samantha." She said and looked over Snape waiting for him to say something.

He arched a brow at her, and she wondered why she had even expected him to have manners and so she said, "And this is Severus. Forgive him, he is quite rude."

Firenze laughed; it was a serene laugh as though he were whispering his pleasure. "Then you shall forgive my brethren, for he as well has no manners."

"You can say that again. Was he really trying to harm us?" she asked.

He shook his head, "No, in truth he just wanted to scare you."

"So much for being a peaceful bunch." Snape muttered under his breath as he dusted off his robes and pants.

Though it was a mere whisper Firenze nodded again, "There have been many of my people that have hardened over the past and present, their ways diverted slightly. There are those like Bane who refuse to look towards the future and only dwell in the past. With age we all mature, or we should but it isn't written in the stars exactly."

"So you are going to help us find the Unicorn? But why would that be in the stars. How is that important?" Samantha wondered.

"What if foreseen, need not be important but is always in some way relevant." Firenze said. "Come, it grows late."

Samantha frowned at what he had said. He was speaking circles. Centaurs are highly integument and he probably knew exactly what he had said.

* * *

Firenze was a few paces ahead of Samantha and Severus. It was a strange sight, from behind at the angle that she saw him it looked like a regular shirtless human sitting atop a horse. She had never seen a Centaur in the flesh before now, and was surprised at how beautiful he really was.

Snape was walking beside her, quiet and in thought. Then she remembered what Firenze had called him.

"Why do you think he called you a dark Wizard?" she asked him, curious to see what he would say.

He looked at her, his eyes searching hers before he said, "I'm not sure. Why would he call you a beautiful Witch?"

He watched as she frowned and met his eyes. She must have seen something there that wasn't since she smiled and said, "Probably foretold how sinister and evil you really are."

He watched her for a moment wondering if she thought that was true. He wasn't sure. "Indeed. He was probably delusional about you to."

Firenze stopped abruptly in front of them. Samantha and Severus watched as Firenze looked towards the direction of the castle. His pointy ears seemed to perk and twist and his eyes narrowed.

He was obviously listening to something Samantha thought and she strained to listen. At first she heard nothing but after a second there came a faint noise. Something animalistic but still very faint. "He grows restless." Firenze whispered to himself.

Samantha waited for him to say something else, to further his comment but he quickly started moving again.

What seemed like a quarter hour later Firenze stopped for a second time and they walked to his side. "I hope it brings you luck in whatever you need it for." He told them as they stared at the glowing beautiful animal ahead of them.

Samantha thanked him again and he nodded in welcome down at her. "I must warn you however. My people will soon know that you are here. You must hurry and keep to the of the trees." He pointed towards a direction. "Go straight in this direction and you will reach where you have come from. Make as little noise as possible and keep alert." He gazed dreamily around, "There are far more dangerous creatures in these parts then you think." With that he turned away and trotted back into the darkness of his forest.

* * *

Severus looked at the beautiful creature in front of him. Pushing Cromwell out of his way he moved closer to the Unicorn. Its glimmering white coat was purer than snow. Its coat was so blindingly white that it had to be over eight years old, a full adult with its pearly horn atop its head and its golden hoofs stomping the ground.

It was looking at them, curious as to what they were and what they were doing so near to it. He inched a bit closer. The Unicorn stomped the ground again, clearly uneasy now with his close proximity. He dared one more step and it proved to one too many for the Unicorn which trotted away from him and stopped a few feet from Samantha keeping its wary eyes on Severus.

Severus watched as the Unicorn realized there were two of them. It stretched its neck towards Cromwell and its nostrils flared. Thinking that the animal might want to throttle her _and run away_ he waved her to back away from it but she wasn't looking at him. _Stupid girl_.

Samantha watched the beautiful animal in awe. It was just a few feet away from her. She had befriended wild animals before and knew that some could be dangerous and some might never be curious enough to get to close to a human but like times before she stretched out her hand and took a smooth small step closer to the animal talking sweetly and soothingly to it. It stretched its head closer towards her hand and she took another step, then another until finally her curled fingers were a mere two inches away from its face.

Snape watched as she slowly uncurled her fingers and lifted them so that her palm was to the Unicorn and he watched as the Unicorn rubbed its snout into her palm. With her other hand she slowly petted its cheek and smiled as she cooed the large animal. He then remembered reading, a long time ago that Unicorns preferred a woman's touch. Standing next to her it was about one and a half feet higher than she was, proving to be a full grown healthy male Unicorn. As she continued talking and petting the animal he crouched down and moved closer to the rear of it. He looked up to find Cromwell looking at him with worried eyes and he wondered if that worry was for him or herself.

He was a foot away. He stood to the side to avoid its rear legs in case it decided to kick back when it realized he was behind it. He reached out and grabbed about three strands of the Unicorns tail. There was a split second when the Unicorn jumped and grunted and then Severus quickly ripped the hair out – roots intact.

The unicorn trashed and squealed. It ran past Samantha, knocking her to the ground and turned to see Severus crouched were it had stood. It stamped the ground once as it snorted, shaking its head from side to side, and then it headed straight for him.

Samantha watched as the Unicorn headed towards Snape and all she had to do was take two steps to the right and she could stop it and realizing how stupid it was she took one big step and held up her arms as the Unicorn struggled to sway from hitting her. She counted to five and realized that nothing had hit her she opened her eyes to find the Unicorn drifting back to the ground just inches in front of her. As it touched the ground it nuzzled her cheek once and turned to gallop away.

Severus sat on the ground, his wand stretched out in front of him and mind racing with ways of disposing of her body.

* * *

"Never again." He had said it over and over again as they had made their way back to the edge of the forest.

Samantha smiled, he was angry because he had saved her, not once but twice. He was mad that she had tried to save him and he had repeated to her over and over again that it had been a fruitless attempt on her part.

Though he was saying horrid things to her, trying to get her to blow up at him and be as angry as he was, Samantha couldn't help but smile and laugh as they got closer to the castle. The whole night had been exhilarating, she had finally had a little adventure and not even Snape could have ruined it with his rude and biting words. She thought back to all the fantasy and romance books she had read, the characters in them had always been in an adventure, were things went wrong but oh so right, where life wasn't just about school or doing what was right.

And thought she went to bed happy and reliving everything she woke up the next morning, or rather two hours later, petrified.

**_A/N:- Remember to read and reveiw :)._**

**_I really like whats coming next, I hope you do to!!_**


	14. Defense Against the Dark Arts class

**_A/N: Thanks to those for reviewing! Especially the last five reviews, very encouraging :)_**

**_Well here's 14! _**

_Chapter Fourteen_

Samantha walked down towards the great lake off to the side of Hogwarts castle. It reminded her of the lake near her home which you had to use an old deer path to get to. It was her favorite spot in the woods around her house. She had played there as a child, played there with Toby when he had still played with toy trucks, when he hadn't known about the female anatomy. She sat down on the bank and watched the glistening water's surface thinking back.

She heard a noise behind her and looked up to see who it was, but there was no one there. She turned back and sighed, she had hoped someone would have been there. Then she felt something stir at her side and whirled to find Snape sitting next to her. He had his arms crossed, resting them on his knees and his head lying on top of them. His hair was in his face, as it always was. She touched his elbow and he looked up at her slowly. She looked into his black black eyes and saw something in the shift, lightened somehow even though his eyes were midnight black. His breathing, as ever was slow and a whisper, as hers as usual was ragged and loud. His eyes moved over her and he suddenly looked angry. He looked away, and she sat their waiting for him to say something, he looked back at her, his eyes narrowed. "You _are_ beautiful." He said. He said it as if he had finally given into something he had thought he was right about, but now knew he was wrong.

He reached out and she watched as his long fingers neared her face. He hesitated a moment, his features conflicted. Confusion touched his eyes and pain settled over his face. His cheeks heated and he wouldn't meet her eyes. He dropped his hand. Her heart fell. They were quiet for a long time after that and she unconsciously slid closer to his body. She leaned her head on his shoulder and he practically growled at her but didn't push her away. She brought her hand up, took one of his in her own and touched his cool skin.

She lifted her head slightly to look at him and slowly, somewhat reluctantly he looked at her. She licked her suddenly dry lips and his gaze fell to them. He pursed his own lips; his brows came together in that always present frown and then he leaned in. Samantha's heart beat faster as she waited. Her lips parted, needed help breathing. She decided he wasn't moving fast enough and also leaned in, he lifted his hands and cupped her face, she grabbed fistfuls of his robes and…

* * *

…Heart beating fast, Samantha sat up in her four-poster bed.

_**What was that?!**_

That was weird…too weird, she thought as she looked over to her clock. She was going to be late for Defense Against the Dark Arts if she didn't leave soon.

Had she just dreamed about almost _kissing Severus Snape_? No!

It's all Annabel and Alexis' fault that she had dreamed about…that she dreamed that she almost…well! All that talk about them thinking that _she_ had been kissing _**SNAPE**_ out in the corridor last night. She tried not to think about it as she pulled on her clothes and tossed her robes on over them.

Some friends she had, not only do they plant horrible images in her mind but they don't even have the decency to wake her up, when they all have the exact same class that morning.

Dressed and exhausted, Samantha ran down the stairs, two or three at the time, to the first floor where the DADA classroom was. She hadn't had time for breakfast, assuming that they were still serving it at this time, and also hadn't had time to brush back her hair. She was doing amazingly to not think about the images of her in that somewhat unlikely situation with Snape...until she got to class that is.

She had been running and nearly ran past the classroom. In her attempt to brake she swerved and lost her footing landing flat against the DADA classroom door. This would have been fine had the door been closed, she could have recovered easily and she wouldn't have caused a scene. However, in this case it hadn't been closed and as she landed on it the door swung open and she landed face first into the classroom.

* * *

At the loud crash from the corridor every one of the students and the Professor turned to see what had just happened, all except Severus, who continued to read his book. He listened as some people laughed and two girls' shrieked. Severus raised his head from the seat where he sat in the back of the classroom and watched as Cromwell got to her feet, her cheeks were slightly pink and yet there was a huge dopey grin on her face.

He watched as Remus was at her side the same time the Professor was. Mutt, so disgustingly in love with her it was sick. He watched as she assured the Professor that she was alright and then, he assumed, she explained why she was late. He had a pleasant thought that he was sure that he was the only person that _truly_ knew why she was late. He didn't know why but he was sure that she hadn't told her friends that she had gone into the Forbidden Forrest _with_ _him_.

He still had his eyes trained on her when she finally looked up from the Professor. Her eyes met his before anything else. He was about to nod at her, expecting to respond slightly to her wave or smile which was how she usually greeted him but today her eyes widened and she dropped her gaze. Her hair, which was unbound, though she almost always had it up, was shadowing her face as she went to her seat and he couldn't have seen her expression.

* * *

_Oh Merlin, oh Merlin._ Why had it been his face that she had had to have seen first. He wasn't even sitting in the front yet her traumatized eyes sought him out. Samantha hastily thanked Remus and the Professor again, ducked her head so that her hair was hiding the deeper blush that she knew was spreading unwarrantedly across her face, and headed for her seat to the left of the classroom where Lily, Annabel and Alexis were waiting. She didn't know why she felt like Snape could probably read her dream in her face, but she was not looking forward to her next Potions class when she would be forced to confront him.

Why was she so embarrassed by that stupid dream? It didn't mean anything. When she thought about it nothing even really happened. She let out her breath and sat down next to Lily.

"You okay?" Lily asked, through a grin.

"Sure." Samantha said. Stupid dream, didn't mean anything, she was fine.

"What took you so long?" Alexis said.

Samantha turned to glare at her, "What took me so long? Why didn't any of you wake me up?"

Annabel frowned, "We did. You even sat up and said that you really hated first periods. I guess you must have still been sleeping."

"Sorry." All three said sheepishly.

* * *

After a few more minutes of everyone in the class chatting and fooling around, the Professor cleared his throat and silence fell across the room. Their DADA Professor was a mildly eccentric individual, with crazy wiry white hair and thick brows and mustache to match. He clearly loved his job, was always excited and itching to move from the theory part of the topic onto the practical.

"Well, students. We are moving onto a new topic today. It will be actually be a double course of Legilimency and Occlumency. Though most Professors choose to teach on both separately I find it far more interesting to teach them at the same time." The Professor said in his somewhat squeaky voice. "Now, who could tell me what Legilimency is?" When no one raised their hand but Lily and one of the boys from Ravenclaw, with blond hair and a name that always seemed to slip Samantha's mind, the Professor frowned disapprovingly and said, "Sirius Black? Care to add your input today?"

Sirius grinned, "Sure, thing Prof. Its mind reading isn't it?"

Lily scowled while Samantha and Alexis grinned to each other over Annabel's daydreaming head.

The Professor seemed a bit dumbfounded, "Well, yes Mr. Black, it is in a sense 'mind reading'."

"Sirius, sir, just Sirius."

"Yes, well, does anyone have a more…intelligent response to the question?"

Lily's hand shot up again and so did the blond boy in Ravenclaw.

The Professor, who was one of the most animated Professors they had ever had for a DADA teacher, even if he was one of the oldest in the school, skipped around the rows of seats and did his best to ignore their waving hands. They were always the same students to want to answer every question.

"What about you, Miss Cromwell?" he asked, halting in front of her desk, and leaning onto it with his hands splayed wide he stared at her from under thick white brows. "Since you came late to class, you owe me!"

"Legilimency is an ability to extract and correctly interpret emotions or memories from another person's mind. Eye contact is usually essential unless the practitioners are masters of the art. Those who practice it are known as Legilimens and," she looked over at Sirius, "would find Mr. Sirius' description of what they do naïve and somewhat offensive." Some people including James, Remus and Peter laughed. Sirius narrowed his eyes at her mockingly but grinned as well.

"Excellent! Five points Gryffindor." The DADA Professor said and smiled wildly at her. He hopped up and down and asked, "Now who could tell me exactly what Occlumency is?" His dark eyes skittered over the reluctant faces landing on a boy sitting in the far back of the room. He had his head bowed and his nose stuck in a book with his black hair hanging over his face. "Ah, Mr. Snape. One of my brightest students." He chirped, "You master every practical I throw at you yet you have never actually raised your hand once in my classroom for verbal input." He skipped down the rows again until he reached Snape's desk and took the book right out of his long gripping fingers. With the book in hand he skipped backwards towards the front of the class again. "Occlumency, Mr. Snape."

* * *

Severus looked up slowly from his desk. He waved his fingers towards the front of the class from under his desk and the book flew out of the Professor's aged hands and into his outstretched hand. Students stared and one or two gasped.

The Professor, however, laughed, "Hadn't uttered a sound, the cheeky lad." His eyes twinkled as he asked again, "Occlumency, Mr. Snape."

Snape felt the other student's eyes on him. He looked around and saw that he had Cromwell's full attention as well. A few of the faces that were staring at him looked intrigued, some of the girls looked a bit wary and stupidly fearful, but most just stared at him in disdain.

"Occlumency is the art of defending one's mind against the penetration of one practicing Legilimency. In its basic form it is emptying the mind so that no emotion or memory can be detected. However more advanced practitioners can manipulate what the Legilimens will find by suppressing the emotions and memories that the Occlumens doesn't wish the Legilimens to see and forcing them to see something else." Snape supplied. He reopened his book and finding the page he had been reading ignored the whispers and ignored the praise from the Professor.

* * *

"Five points Slytherin." The Professor was saying.

Samantha tried to ignore what people were saying around her. She really didn't see how someone that didn't even know Snape, or had never even talked to him could make up such crap about him. Sure he wasn't the nicest or social of people, he kept to himself and _maybe some_ of the things said about him were true, but lots of it wasn't.

Just then Bellatrix and Rodolphus walked into class. The Professor headed over to get their excuses and after a moment everyone was in their seats again as the Professor was clearing his throat for the second time.

"Now, it isn't exactly in the syllabus that we practice Legilimency or Occlumency but we have already covered everything that I had planned to cover before the Christmas break, so we'll spend the first few lessons next week covering the history and theory of the two topics and the rest to practice the arts." His face wrinkled even more as a wide smile spread across his face showing two teeth missing on either side of his upper jaw to the sides. He templed his fingers to his lips and gave a jittery jump, excitement evident in his voice as he said in a rush, "Besides wouldn't it be fun to learn if we have any naturals in the class?" he looked at the old grandfather clock to the right of his desk and his smile brightened even more. "I might as well put you all in pairs now and we can spend the rest of the class putting what you know into an amateur attempt of the two arts."

"_You_ are putting us into pairs, sir?" someone asked from right behind Samantha.

The Professor smiled, "We'll yes, of course." He continued to smile as he raised his wand and pointed it at their register which tore into little pieces which then floated into a bowl on his desk.

He picked out to pieces of paper and read out the two names, "James Potter and Lily Evans." James beamed and Lily groaned.

Two minutes later half the class was paired up. Alexis was with the Blond RavenClaw, who's name was Tom McKinley. Annabel was with Sirius and Remus was paired with a mean looking Slytherin girl.

As more and more of the class were paired up and as more of them ended up to be two people who wouldn't have talking in the corridors, Samantha's heart sank. The only likely pair in the room was Bellatrix and Rodolphus. And when there were only four people left to be paired, and she and Snape were one of them, Samantha thought about how unfair this whole situation was. She didn't even have a chance.

"And I believe that just leaves Samantha Cromwell and Severus Snape." he looked up from the last two ominous pieces of paper and slipped off the spectacles that made his eyes extremely owlish. "Okay everyone go sit by your partner."

James came and stood behind Samantha waiting to sit next to Lily. Lily shared a helpless and understanding glance with Samantha as she got to her feet, gathered her things and went to sit next to Snape. He sat alone she realized as she made her way through the rows of desks. He had his head bent over his book and didn't seem to realize what was happening around him. The only good thing about this situation, Samantha noted was that Bellatrix and Rodolphus were sitting on the other side of the room.

She glanced over to where they sat. Bellatrix, who had a leg thrown between Rodolphus' outstretched legs, was staring straight at her. She looked livid, sick even and she felt a complete accusation washing over her from the girl's intense stare. Giving Bellatrix what she hoped was an _'I don't even care what you have to say'_ look, and including an arched brow she straightening her back and got closer to Snape.

* * *

Severus felt the chair next to him move and looked up to see Cromwell sitting there. He was a bit surprised and he quickly looked around the classroom to see that almost everyone had moved seating.

"Let me guess Cromwell."" He said and looked back down to his book, "We had to be put into pairs and you practically begged to be my partner."

Samantha stared at him and was about to tell him that sarcasm was not a good trait when he looked up at her with a smile on his face. Her heart fell and she sickly imagined him leaning towards her. _Why is he smiling like that?_

Severus watched her unusually shy expression. She looked rather nervous. He raised a brow, "Are you alright?"

Samantha tried to smile back at him but from his amused yet suspicious expression knew that she was just making a crazy face at him. _Get it under control. Nothing has changed, you are Samantha and he is Snape._ She let out a breath, "Nothing. Why would there be something wrong with me?" she asked.

Severus watched as her mood lightened, as her face slowly went from the hysterical smile to something looking like an _'I'm not crazy'_ smile to something somewhat more normal for her. "Indeed." He said slowly, still watching her skeptically. He knew she was lying but didn't want to peruse it.

"Anyway, you wish." She snorted after a moment.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked.

"You only wish that I begged to work with you." She said. She felt better now, she realized. She sat there and told herself that she was just going to pretend that that dream had never happened. Nothing significant had happened in it anyway, he had just leaned towards her, maybe she had come to the wrong conclusion, and he might have just been going to swat a bee away from her shoulder or pick a leaf out of her hair or something. Alright perhaps that is ridiculous but either way no one knew about it and she was never going to tell anyone anyway. But still…why would she have leaned in? She had been expecting it…wanting it. _Forget it!_ Who knows why we dream the dreams we dream, it doesn't mean anything.

* * *

"Alright as I said before let's take what you already know and see if any of you have any raw talent." The Professor said from the front of the room.

Samantha almost died. _How had this not processed in her mind!_ They were learning _Legilimency_! They were _practicing_ the stupid thing!

"Professor, let's be realistic. Most of us do not know anything about either topic and practitioners of them are rare to come. This is a waste of time." Lily said from where James was trying to enter her mind. She pushed him away from her. "Further more sir, this is completely going against our right to privacy. We hardly know our partners and what if-"

The Professor interrupted her, "Miss Evans, is there something you wish to hide?" she was about to answer but he continued, "Then I see no problem. If it's the possibility of them finding something embarrassing in your mind I believe we have nothing to worry about since, as you have just informed us all, practitioners of Legilimency and Occlumency come rarely. Just humor an old man, my dear."

Lily scowled but didn't say much more.

This was what people meant when they called the DADA Professor eccentric. He held little regard to rules and other people's comfort zones or limitations. He taught in his own way and though he was an excellent teacher there were many things that he did in the class and allowed them to do in class that they were sure he wasn't allowed to let them do. No one however told on him because of the fact that he was an excellent teacher and because he let them do things they might not have been allowed to do by other teachers. "Begin." He finally said, waving his wand and doing a little dance.

Samantha looked over to Snape who was staring at her with his normal empty stare. "Ugh, what should we do now?" she asked stupidly.

Severus watched her. He had never looked into anyone else's mind before Rodolphus, Bellatrix and Muliciber. He was meaning to practice on other people, to get better at his art but had spent his time reading up on Occlumency for the past few weeks. It was very important that he learned it. He knew that it would be unwise and probably fruitless to look for someone skilled in Legilimency to practice with so he again had to turn towards books and his mind. Which was why he had been looking forward to these classes hoping that he would be able to learn enough form the theory to teach himself how to defend his mind against Voldemort's talent in Legilimency. And now as he sat here looking into Cromwell's unusually shy, averted eyes he was somewhat looking forward to seeing into her mind, to find what truly dwelled there. Which was a rather strange thought, so he pushed it back and out of his mind. It was probably something prissy and useless, her mind.

He suggested that they first relay what they both knew on either subject. He was surprised that she knew almost everything that he did about the two and when he asked her about it she answered, "When I was younger I heard my father talk about someone in the family being talented in both, which I have read is uncommon. When I asked him later who it was he told me that that had been a private conversation I had listened into and refused to tell me. After that I made it my own little personal mystery to solve. I have read probably every book written on it." she laughed.

"I find it very sickening to say that I can actually see you sitting outside a cracked door listening to people talking about private matters." He said grudgingly.

Samantha laughed, "I was sitting outside a cracked door." She smiled and leaned in conspiratorially, "Though, usually I sit under open windows."

Severus found himself smiling at the thought, but stopped at the sudden cold feeling at the back of his head. Steeling his face to show no emotion he turned to find Bellatrix staring at Cromwell in disgust. As he turned she glared at him and the suspicion and distrust in her eyes was utterly evident. He narrowed his eyes at her and she did the same to him. After a moment she turned back to Rodolphus who was practically sleeping in his seat.

Snape turned back to see Cromwell staring up at him with knowing eyes. She glanced quickly over at Bellatrix and then quickly back to him, "She doesn't like me very much." She said.

"Not everyone has to like you Gryffindor." He said harshly because he was mad. Mad at her, it was partly her fault that Bellatrix was now questioning him.

She opened her mouth to say something back to him but stopped herself. She had the audacity to look hurt as she said, "No, not everyone has to. And I don't like it that you think that I am that self centered to actually care about that." She scowled and huffed at him then said, "That wasn't my point though, ass. I was going to also say that she doesn't like it that you have to work with me."

He just looked at her and she looked at him expectantly. She was waiting for him to say something but he didn't so she asked, "Why is that?"

"Because she doesn't like you." He said plainly.

Samantha clenched her fingers. She could really hit him right about now. Of course she knew that Bellatrix didn't like her but she felt that there was more to it than that. And she assumed that Snape would read that in her question but apparently he didn't. She didn't however know how to approach the subject so she just dropped it. "Okay, as reluctant as I am to do this, and as wrong as it seems to be doing this on school grounds, I admit this is interesting. What should we start with?"

He knew that she hadn't finished with her earlier concerns about Bellatrix but that was good, because he couldn't exactly tell her that the reason Bellatrix hated her so much was because it threatened his _worship_ of the Dark Lord, to whom he will _slave_ for until the war was over and then finally move on with his life. And no, he wasn't as naïve to think that he could just leave his Death Eater post, but he knew that when it was time to leave it all behind he would be ready. Ready for anything.

"It doesn't particularly matter to me." he said and watched the relief flow over her.

"Great, then um, I guess I will try my amazing _Legilimency skills_ on you." She said it sarcastically, through a smile.

"Indeed." This was all he said. He wasn't sure if anyone else was practicing, the rest of the students were probably just sitting around chatting and doing nothing constructive. He was glad that Cromwell actually wanted to work.

Samantha sat up straighter and looked straight into Snape's eyes. She found it sort of difficult to do at this moment but since he didn't remove his gaze she wouldn't either.

She looked guarded again; Snape noticed and saw that her grip on her wand had tightened. He doubted that she would be able to look into his mind, so he refrained from using what he had learnt on Occlumency, to give her at least a fair try.

Samantha waved her wand in the way she had read about and whispered the incantation. She didn't remove her eyes from Snape's and noticed that the corners of her vision were blurring a bit. Maybe she was concentrating too hard, she thought.

Snape could tell that she was trying but curiosity overcame him and he pushed forward with his own mind. He felt a bit of resistance but then he felt a wave of concentration flow off her. Then, in his mind, his surroundings darkened and he was looking through a cracked door into a room.

She tried to think back to what she had read and was actually taken back to the time she was eavesdropping on her father and grandfather. Trying to ignore the thought she concentrated fully on Snape but the thought continued to play in her mind, however what she saw was not exactly what she had remembered.

Snape was looking through the cracked door into a spacious library. It had books on every shelf from the Cromwell's view point; books also littered the desks and floors. Off to the side was a couch which he only saw the back off. Sitting on the couch were two men, one being her father and the other her Grandfather.

Samantha felt herself lean further towards Snape and tried not to blink as his eyes intensified. She felt her own thoughts moving in her mind but knew something was wrong. The memory then quickly went to a flash back of when she had confronted her father about what she had heard.

Then she heard Snape's voice, as if it were an echo in her mind. _'It was probably something prissy and useless, her mind.'_ She felt the echoed words rather then heard them. It was a strange feeling really and she tried to push a bit further. Suddenly, still staring at Snape, in the back of her mind she saw a darkened place. It was wooded and the full moon shown down in areas. She heard whispers but couldn't make out what they were saying. Then she saw herself. She was laughing, skipping even her mouth moving quickly but still the sounds were too low.

Severus was too stunned to react for a second but when he realized that she was trying to go deeper he broke the connection by closing his eyes quickly.

Samantha took in a deep breath as if she had just come back to the surface from being stuck under water for too long. She looked up at Snape and found him staring at her dumbfounded.

"Did you see anything, my dear?" came the soft whisper of the Professor from behind Samantha's ear.

She jumped and twirled to look at him, "Excuse me?" she asked. "Ugh," she looked back at Snape who just stared at her, "no, sir." She said hastily, though she didn't know why she was lying. She had actually seen into someone's mind!

The Professor looked as though he might have asked her one more time, but he suddenly jolted up right. "Class is over, students. We pick up next week with the theory. As Miss Lily had foreseen, we have no raw talent as of yet but fear not! We try again towards the end of next week!" with that everyone left the classroom.

Except for Samantha and Severus.

**_A/N:- I wonder what this all means!!_**

**_and Arwen, what your hoping for will come eventually lol :P_**

**_Remember, though i remind and i remind...READ AND REVIEW!!_**

**_HaPpY rEaDiNgS!!!!!!_**


	15. An Opportunity

**_A/N- Hi everybody!!_**

**_Please read and review :D_**

_Chapter Fifteen_

Samantha and Severus just stared at each other as the rest of the students grabbed their possessions and left the DADA classroom. Severus watched the excitement grow from different levels on her face to horror then back to excitement again with little expression on his face at all. She had to be the strangest individual he had ever met in his life. He was only assuming that her expressions were reactions to each other's ability to see into each other's minds. He hadn't expected that little brush against his mind from her at all. It had angered him to think that he had actually allowed her to gain entry but now that he had had time to think about it he was somewhat pleased to see how he could use this to his advantage.

When everyone had left the room, Samantha flicked her wand at the door and it slammed closed. Then she turned to him and whispered, "You saw something didn't you?" She was nervous again. She watched him closely, but if he had caught a glimpse of her dream, surly he would have been acting strangely right? Or would it have not bothered him at all? No, it would have disgusted him; he would have taunted her, mocked her, and probably reprimanded her in some way. She let out her breath and excitement regained its claim on her face. He hadn't seen the dream.

"You saw something as well." He announced. He watched as her expression relaxed and wondered what she was really thinking about. But now he knew that she would feel it if he did enter her mind, though he wouldn't have anyway.

Samantha watched him skeptically. "What did you see?" she asked, for some reason she didn't want to reveal what she had seen first.

"What did you see?" he demanded.

She was quiet for a minute, "I'd rather you go first."

Severus scowled, "Why is that? It's pretty obvious that we both know what the other had seen."

She bit her lip, trying to remember what she had read in the hundreds of books she had researched Legilimency on. "Is that normal?"

He frowned, "I'm not sure." He rolled his eyes and said, "I saw the memory of you listening in on your father as he talked to your grandfather about the family member that you have that was skilled in both Legilimency and Occlumency. I couldn't hear everything that was being said because from your position you hadn't been able to hear perfectly." He paused a minute, then said, "Then I felt you enter my mind."

Samantha nodded. "At first all I was seeing was the same memory but in greater detail then when I usually recall it." She looked up at him, "Before, I couldn't remember who it was that my father had been talking to. But then in this particular reenactment I saw my grandfather. I must have been seeing what you had been looking at."

Severus sat back down in his chair, "So much about Legilimency is still unknown." He said the fact for no particular reason but she seemed to understand why, nonetheless. "I saw the real memory, whereas you can only see what you remember of that memory. So when you entered my mind you weren't seeing my own memories at all, you were seeing what was actually in my mind, at that particular moment, which was your memory." He was talking to her, but he was more talking to himself. He looked up at her and was full in thought as she too sat down again.

"Well actually that wasn't all I saw." She said slowly.

His eyes, which were on her but weren't focused on her, did focus on her now. His eyes narrowed and a guard flew back into place. "What else did you see." He asked, and she couldn't shake off the feeling that he was asking it in a dangerous tone, as if maybe she should rethink what she was about to say next.

She straightened in her chair. "Well, I saw…what you were looking at in my mind. Then it sort of blurred out of my mind and I heard an echo," she looked him straight in the eye, "an echo of your voice saying, 'It was probably something prissy and useless, her mind.' I assume that I am right to think that you were referring to me?" She asked with narrowed eyes and watched as slight amusement settled over his lips and continued, "But then I saw something that had to have been your memory." She said it softly, and the amusement vanished from his face.

He leaned back in his chair, seemed to stretch a few inches and he asked, "And what was it exactly that that you had seen?"

Samantha hesitated for a moment. She didn't know why but something was screaming at her not to tell him what she had seen. But she wasn't going to lie to him, besides why would it make him angry? "I saw myself." His eyes narrowed even more, "I am assuming it was from last night in the forest, I was running and-" she felt a blush start behind her ears, she tried to fight it but continued, "I was smiling and laughing. I was talking to you but I couldn't hear what I was saying, the noises surrounding us, well you were to low." She watched him. "It was weird seeing me through your eyes, though." She mumbled.

Severus was quiet for a minute. Anger and confusion boiled within him. He hadn't even known that she had seen this image. He had only felt her presence in his mind, the only explanation he could think of was that it was so subtle and fragile that he hadn't been able to feel what she had been looking at. He looked back down at her and said, "Well, obviously it had to have been from last night Cromwell. What, do you think that I dream about you or fantasize about you? I see you far too much to torture myself in such ways. As for you not being able to hear anything that was being said, it was because I usually try to drown you out whenever you tend to annoy me the most."

He watched as she left the room, slamming the door behind her. She hadn't said anything, she hadn't even looked angry. If he had been forced to put an emotion to her abrupt change in attitude he would have said that she had looked disappointed.

As he sat there rethinking everything they had just shared and as he rethought about everything he knew about Legilimency he realized that it was uncommon for the person being looked at by a Legilimens to actually see what the Legilimens was looking at, if it could be done at all. It was still unclear exactly what she had done. Had she seen in her own mind what he was looking at? Or had she seen in his mind what he was looking at? He was mad because he didn't have answers to these questions. He was also mad because he had not known about that last scene she had seen in his mind. Why had she seen it anyway? He hadn't been thinking about the events of last night. But then again there had been nothing else to see between last night and this morning, which would be why that was the first thing that she would have come across. It was also their first attempt, they knew little about what they were capable of, and it wasn't going to be their last attempt at it.

Walking towards the door he found himself guilty, again, for unnecessarily hurting her in some way even though it was in his nature to do so and had it happened a few months ago he wouldn't have cared less.

* * *

Well at least they felt the same way about each other, Samantha told herself as she stormed off to her next class. Well she didn't like thinking about him either. And that dream was a lapse in judgment on her part…well technically on her _unconscious_ part, so it was hardly her problem.

Calming down she slowed her pace enough to realize that she was heading in the wrong direction for Transfiguration. He wasn't mad at _her_ she mused, he must have been mad that he hadn't realized that she had seen more than he had thought she had seen. How she knew when it wasn't her he was mad at she had no idea. Maybe it was because of what people always say about him. That he was cruel, that he was rude, spiteful and dark. Yes he could be all those things but over the past few months she realized that, with her at least he was only those things if she pushed him too far, or if he was mad at himself. Not that that gave him free rein to attack her like that but at least she was able to know when he really meant to hurt her.

She arrived to her Transfiguration class just as Professor McGonagall was closing the door to begin the lesson. With a warning look and terse nod she allowed her entrance and Samantha headed to the front left of the class. She sat in the first row next to Lily and behind them sat Sirius, James and Remus.

"What took you so long after DADA?" Lily asked.

"Snape and I had to talk about something for the Potion." She lied. It sickened her how simple it was to lie for her now. She never used to lie; she never had a reason to. Not that what she was lying about was that big of deal. It just didn't seem right to tell people about her being able to look into Snape's mind and him being able to look into hers. And the lies before that…it just didn't seem that everything about her and what she did had to be everyone's business.

"You two are still getting along alright?" Lily asked.

Her friends had asked her this question many times and her answer had always been the same, "As great as it can be with Snape." and it was the truth, with his dark mood swings and lack of trust he did make getting along quiet difficult and when they were fighting she would tell them and when he was acting quite pleasant she would tell them as well, though they believed her story more on the former.

"Hey, Samantha?" came Remus' soft raspy voice from behind her.

Smiling she turned, she was about to greet him as well but when she noticed his face all she managed was, "Oh, Merlin, what happened to you face?" He had scratches all over them; some looked as though they had been very deep and ragged. They were healing now, he must have seen Madam Pomfrey but she hadn't seen them when he was helping her off of the floor in DADA class earlier.

She watched as a blush rose up his neck and across his face and James put a vile into his hand under the table. He quickly drank from it and the gashes were gone again. As he drank Sirius grinned awkwardly, "Our potion required some live, not to be mentioned creatures, and well let's just say we didn't know how to handle them."

She gave them a stern look and started, "You-" but Professor McGonagall had begun her class. Samantha gave Remus a sympathetic look but he wouldn't look her in the eye so she turned her attention back towards the front of the class. _Poor Remus, he always seemed to be the one getting hurt._

The Professor was giving them their essay topics which they were expected to complete in today's lesson when the classroom's door swiftly opened and Snape came into the room. Scowling, Professor McGonagall glided over to him and they talked silently for a moment. Samantha couldn't help but look over at him. Snape looked up once as if he could feel her watching him, and she hastily looked back down at her notes from last class.

* * *

"Well yes, of course, _that man_ wouldn't have thought to give you a late slip." Professor McGonagall was saying in response to his excuse for being late because of being held after class by the DADA teacher. She sent him to his seat, muttering under her tongue about the man being an imbecile and about Dumbledore's seemingly feeble intuition.

As he swept past Cromwell's desk she didn't look up at him again. He knew she wouldn't. He didn't feel Professor's gaze on him so he swiftly placed a piece of parchment under Cromwell's fingers and noticed that Lupin, Black and Potter had seen him do it. They all narrowed their eyes at him, Potter wrinkled his nose, looking like a buffoon and Black even clenched his fist. Severus lifted his nose at them and knew that that simple posture would anger them the most. He rolled his eyes as he past them and walked to the rear of the classroom where he sat into his seat, listened to the Professor repeat their essay instructions and waited for her to reply.

* * *

Samantha stared down at the piece of paper in her hand. Groaning, knowing there was no way she was going to ignore it she opened it and read Snape's spidery scrawl. _**Cromwell, your actual raw talent at something thought to be rare took me by surprise. I assume that you think that I overreacted and that my words were unnecessary and harsh? I keep forgetting that you are female and your feelings are sensitive as well as easily wounded. I suppose I am meant to be sorry?**_

Samantha laughed. This letter was just like him. He wasn't sorry at all but for some reason she didn't know just this unlikely ridiculous letter which showed no more remorse then his expressionless face could, made her feel better. He probably knew this too, which was why he did it and that alone told her that he was in some semblance sorry.

She quickly wrote on the parchment and flicked her wand over it.

* * *

Severus snatched the floating sheet of parchment out of the air in front of his nose and opened the neatly folded letter. Her curvy writing was there under his spidery one.

_**I know that you doubt me at every turn, and I know that you had never dreamed that it was possible but I have greatly impressed you, Snape. Admit it. As for your outburst, I know that it was out of pure horror that you didn't know that I had been that far into your mind. I know that you always have to be in control Snape, but it is okay to sometime not be. I forgive you of course,**_ she had drawn a stupid goofy smiley face then continued, _**but only because your attempt at an apology was so rather sad.**_

He scoffed, and pulled out his quill. He tried to push back the annoyance at her statement of knowing all this things about him. About him being mad because he hadn't known she was in his mind, about him always having to be in control. She didn't know how right she was about him and it angered him that she did know this, that she had the nerve to throw it in his face. But she wasn't taunting him, in the sense that he would have expected someone to taunt him. If it were anyone else he would have stayed away from her. Perhaps he should be staying away from her. It would be that smart thing to do, and he was smart damn it, but even as all these thoughts went through his mind he wrote back to her.

* * *

Samantha was stuck on her essay, the right words weren't coming to mind when she thought about what transforms in a mouse first when it is being transfigured into an edible pumpkin pie. She turned her quill over and over in her hand. Then a theory came to mind, she bend back over her essay to add to it and realized it was another note in Snape's spidery handwriting. She looked under the parchment for her work and frowned when she found it nowhere. She read the letter.

_**I have reason to doubt you, but the many reasons of which are too many to fill this sheet. As for your impressing me, you have done no such thing so far in my knowing you. I think that my apology was sufficient under the circumstances. Since I doubt that you can tell time I feel the need to remind you that we have to attend to the potion during lunch today. And you are wrong, I always have to be in control but you will never be able to understand that about me. **_

The words vanished; she had almost not had enough time to read that last sentence before it was all replaced. _**Let's leave it at that.**_

In other words, he wasn't going to expect or tolerate any questions regarding what had just been said. She smiled, but that's what made them such a great team, he dictated straight forward rigid rules, and she bent and questioned every one of them. She bit her lip and wrote in response.

Before she was finished her essay parchment floated back onto her desk and she picked it up noticing his scrawl in bright red ink all over her paper pointing out her errors. She narrowed her eyes.

* * *

Snape was finished with his essay and was leaning back in his chair staring at the ceiling. He was deep in thought planning and working out how he would practice Occlumency. He straightening in his seat just as something aimed for his forehead. It surprised him and its pointed end hit him square between the eyes. He picked up the parchment and studied its layout. It looked oddly like a _plane_, something muggles used to travel long distances through the sky. A _paper plane_, he scoffed.

He opened the neatly folded parchment.

* * *

"You want to practice Legilimency and Occlumency with me?"

Samantha stared at Snape through dumbfounded eyes. He sat in a chair across from her in the Room of Requirement, his posture straight and his fingers steepled in front of him. He looked completely serious and part of her was excited, or she at least assumed that's what her racing heart meant.

"Let me get this straight," she said after a while as he kept staring at her without saying anything, "You want to spend even more time together outside of the classroom and away from the Potion?"

His next expression was one of pain and nausea. "Putting it that way," he said slowly, "no. However I want to learn the art and I have a sneaking suspicion that I won't be able to find anyone, other than yourself that has…" he paused, waving his fingers in a nonchalant motion, "Some degree of ability in one or the other."

Samantha leaned back in her chair. She had the opportunity to learn an incredible art, or rather expand on what she was already capable of, if she was in fact capable of it. The possibility of being able to do something that so few people have mastered such as looking into people's minds would be amazing, she mused. And working with someone as determined and proficient as Severus Snape she was sure to learn more than with anyone else.

She looked up at him then. At some point he will be looking into her mind. She will be susceptible to him finding out things about her that no one else would ever know, and he to her. He might even eventually see that dream, she reminded herself. He sat there silently, obviously waiting for her to comply or refuse. There had to be an alternative reason he wanted to do this, she thought. There was no way that Snape, someone who wouldn't even answer a simple question about anything, would allow anyone access to his most secret of secrets. Perhaps he was so arrogant to think that she wouldn't be able to penetrate him, or so arrogant to think that he might actually be a natural at Occlumency, either way something was telling her there was an underlying reason. Something was telling her not to trust him and not to do this.

"Why?" she asked.

He raised a brow, "Why what?"

She thought a moment, "I don't see you as someone who likes to share…at all" she said slowly, unsure of how to ask it, "Why allow me the opportunity to see things that you work so hard to hide?"

Anger blossomed out of nowhere. "I don't try to hide anything." He ground out.

Samantha watched him shift. One moment he was amused and somewhat open, the next he is angry and shut off. "Snape, it's just a simple question." She rationalized.

"And I gave you an understandable answer." He said, "Cromwell, either you want to try it or not. I can read books and memorize information; I can't practice it on myself."

Samantha watched as something else changed in him, he sounded a bit desperate, his breath came out raspy, and perhaps he wasn't angry after all perhaps it was desperation that made him snap. _But why?_ "You really only want to learn it?" she asked.

Severus growled, "Does there have to be another reason? Of course I would want to learn it."

Samantha sat up straighter, "Fine, but why with me, why outside of the classroom, Snape? Why not tell the Professor that you had breached something? You know that he will be delighted to discover that one of his students has Legilimency talent."

Severus was annoyed, he knew that with she would try to complicate the matter before agreeing to anything but he saw a different approach. "Look, Cromwell. Maybe it's not something I want people to know about me. Like you said I don't like to share anything…nothing at all." He said the last three words dangerously, "I have a feeling that you don't have many secrets, but I think that maybe you want one." He said it slowly, his eyes narrowing as if he was just realizing something about her. "Why else would you have lied to the Professor about not having seen anything?"

Samantha had her response ready but his accusation caught her off guard. "I have secrets." she heard herself saying defensively.

He looked at her doubtfully. "I don't see why you're making this such a big deal."

She scoffed, "Well maybe because I might actually have secrets that I don't want people to know, that I don't want someone picking through my memories and know things about me that are private." She threw at him and prayed the blush wouldn't creep up her neck as he gave her an arched brow. "More importantly I don't understand why you're so calm about it."

"Perhaps, because we might not even be that good at it." he paused and stared at her open face for a moment. He wasn't prepared to let her into his mind, which was exactly the point. If they were to practice the art then he would work on Occlumency and not even give her a chance. He frowned, but if her skill was to meager then there wasn't much of a point. He assumed he would have to let her see something and work on her talent enough to see if she was even capable of being somewhat a compatible opponent. The thought made him want to retract his offer. But his long-term self preservation out won his short-term and he continued, "Also, if we were to see something…that would just be one more secret we will have to keep to ourselves."

* * *

Samantha was thinking.

She lay there on her four-poster bed staring up at the ceiling as the other girls in her dormitory snored and dreamt.

_Should she go through with it?_ It would be amazing to learn Legilimency and it would be exhilarating to learn it outside of the classroom. It would be something she taught herself…well with Snape there.

She closed her eyes, thought of Snape. _Was it going to be worth it?_ Maybe she didn't have that many secrets, not really, but she did have some self preservation. What if he saw something that he could use against her, to humiliate her to taunt her. _Like that stupid dream._ She shook her head, he wasn't that petty. But if he ever did turn against her he could use her weaknesses against her.

_But you would finally be able to see what was really in his mind. _Samantha reopened her eyes. Going through with this was beyond getting to know each other; it was knowing each other intimately. Her heart speed up, she didn't want him to know her intimately and she didn't want to know him the same way either.


End file.
